SAINT JEROME IN THE DESERT, circa 1600
Oil on panel
20 1/2 by 22 7/8 in.; 52 by 58 cm.
Private collection
Saint Jerome in the desert was executed by Arpino circa 1600, when the artist was at the height of his popularity. Executed on panel, it demonstrates all of the hallmark qualities for which d'Arpino was renowned. The foliage, in particular, is beautifully rendered in minute detail and lush green pigments. Furthermore, in its employment of a sweeping rocky landscape, and overall muted color range, the present picture also reveals its debt to Flemish landscape painting. More on this painting
Jerome (c.
347 – 30 September 420) was a priest, confessor, theologian and historian. He
was the son of Eusebius, born at Stridon, a village near Emona on the border of
Dalmatia and Pannonia, then part of northeastern Italy. He is best known for
his translation of most of the Bible into Latin (the translation that became
known as the Vulgate), and his commentaries on the Gospels. His list of
writings is extensive.
The protégé of Pope Damasus I, who died in December of
384, Jerome was known for his teachings on Christian moral life, especially to
those living in cosmopolitan centers such as Rome. In many cases, he focused
his attention to the lives of women and identified how a woman devoted to Jesus
should live her life. This focus stemmed from his close patron relationships
with several prominent female ascetics who were members of affluent senatorial
families.
He is recognised as a Saint
and Doctor of the Church by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox
Church, the Lutheran Church, and the Anglican Communion. His feast day is 30
September. More on Jerome
Giuseppe Cesari (February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called Cavaliere d'Arpino, because he was created Cavaliere di Cristo by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patronized in Rome by both Clement and Sixtus V. He was the chief of the studio in which Caravaggio trained upon the younger painter's arrival in Rome.
Cesari's first major work done in his twenties was the painting of the right counterfacade of San Lorenzo in Damaso. On 28 June 1589, he receives the commission for the murals of the choir vault in the Certosa di San Martino in Naples. From 1591 he is again in Rome, where he painted the vault in the Contarelli Chapel within the church of San Luigi dei Francesi. He also completed murals in the Cappella Olgiati in Santa Prassede, and the vault of the Sacristy in the Certosa di San Martino.
He was a man of touchy and irascible character, and rose from penury to the height of opulence. Cesari became a member of the Accademia di San Luca in 1585. In 1607, he was briefly jailed by the new papal administration. He died in 1640.
His most notable and perhaps surprising pupil was Caravaggio. In c. 1593-94, Caravaggio held a job at Cesari's studio as a painter of flowers and fruit. More on Giuseppe Cesari
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