Saint Jerome

This refined panel is a newly discovered work by Vicino da Ferrara, an anonymous hand identified by Roberto Longhi. In his seminal Officina Ferrarese, Longhi published a group of pictures under the name of Vicino da Ferrara, an artist close to Ercole de’ Roberti and with links to Piero della Francesca and Francesco del Cossa. Longhi described his work as displaying ‘una chiarezza innegabilmente franceschiana, ma trascorrente sui toni cantabili, rossi e azzurri schietti, della miniatura locale verso il ’60.’ (R. Longhi, Officina Ferrarese 1934, Florence, 1956, p. 49). This Saint Jerome, with its lucid tones and expressive handling, is comparable to the panel, showing the same saint, at Villa I Tatti in Florence. The deep folds of the red draperies and the architectural setting are strikingly similar in both panels. One theory holds that the artist could be identified as Baldassare d’Este, who was likely an illegitimate son of Niccolò III d’Este. He was documented as working at the court in Milan in 1461, and later for Borso d’Este in Ferrara, and was primarily known as a portraitist.