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Lot Essay
Arthur Hind’s much-quoted aperçu that this print is ‘a tree study with Saint Jerome thrown in’ (Hind, 1932) is certainly a good description of this wonderful plate, presented here in a very fine impression with rich burr. The tree does certainly take centre-stage here, but Hind’s witty characterisation omits the fact that the placement of Rembrandt’s Saint Jerome beside the tree is not without tradition. The dead tree, often with a sole flowering branch as a symbol of regeneration, is traditionally found in depictions of the Saint in the wilderness. Two prints of the early 16th century, which Rembrandt could well have known, show Saint Jerome next to a prominent tree: Albrecht Dürer’s Saint Jerome by the Pollard Willow of 1512 and Marcantonio Raimondi's Saint Jerome and the small Lion of early 16th century (or a reversed copy by Agostino Veneziano). In both prints, the saint sits at a makeshift desk somehow attached to the tree. In Dürer’s iron etching, the tree is also a willow.
Although the motive may be an established one, this particular, magnificent study of the ancient tree and the composition is entirely Rembrandt’s own invention. The tree itself has been brought into connection with a drawing at the Biblioteca Reale in Turin. Although the attribution of the drawing to Rembrandt is not confirmed, the tree and its position is certainly very similar, with the reeds and water at its base. In any case, Rembrandt would have had plenty of opportunity to sketch an old willow, as these were traditionally planted in Holland along the dykes and canals, and pollarded, their branches being used for fences and baskets. What we know for certain is that Rembrandt began his work on the plate with the tree. He lavished his full attention on the depiction of this gnarled tree, with its cut and broken branches and its rugged, bulging trunk. In a charming detail, giving the whole image an idyllic lightness, he put a little bird on the top. Only subsequently and almost as an after-thought, did he add the saint and his attributes, the skull, his cardinal’s hat and the lion, with drypoint in the middle ground. A few blades of grass and rushes are swiftly added to the foot of the tree, the gorge with a waterfall that serves as a background is merely hinted at. The whole print has a deliberately ‘unfinished’ feel, densely worked in some areas and only a few sketchy, almost careless lines elsewhere.
In the course of his printmaking career, Rembrandt dedicated no fewer than seven prints to the subject of Jerome of Stridon (circa 342/347 –420 AD), the hermit saint and one of the four fathers of the Church. In its iconography, the print is a hybrid between two pictorial traditions: Saint Jerome in his Study, depicting the scholar at work; and Saint Jerome penitent in the Wilderness, shown in prayer or beating his chest with a rock. Here, the Saint has chosen a secluded dale and a makeshift desk by a brook to work quietly on his translation of the Bible into Latin. The mood, as Clifford Ackley put it, ‘is more that of a sun-bathed summer retreat than of penitential isolation.’ (Ackley, 2003, p. 222).
Although the motive may be an established one, this particular, magnificent study of the ancient tree and the composition is entirely Rembrandt’s own invention. The tree itself has been brought into connection with a drawing at the Biblioteca Reale in Turin. Although the attribution of the drawing to Rembrandt is not confirmed, the tree and its position is certainly very similar, with the reeds and water at its base. In any case, Rembrandt would have had plenty of opportunity to sketch an old willow, as these were traditionally planted in Holland along the dykes and canals, and pollarded, their branches being used for fences and baskets. What we know for certain is that Rembrandt began his work on the plate with the tree. He lavished his full attention on the depiction of this gnarled tree, with its cut and broken branches and its rugged, bulging trunk. In a charming detail, giving the whole image an idyllic lightness, he put a little bird on the top. Only subsequently and almost as an after-thought, did he add the saint and his attributes, the skull, his cardinal’s hat and the lion, with drypoint in the middle ground. A few blades of grass and rushes are swiftly added to the foot of the tree, the gorge with a waterfall that serves as a background is merely hinted at. The whole print has a deliberately ‘unfinished’ feel, densely worked in some areas and only a few sketchy, almost careless lines elsewhere.
In the course of his printmaking career, Rembrandt dedicated no fewer than seven prints to the subject of Jerome of Stridon (circa 342/347 –420 AD), the hermit saint and one of the four fathers of the Church. In its iconography, the print is a hybrid between two pictorial traditions: Saint Jerome in his Study, depicting the scholar at work; and Saint Jerome penitent in the Wilderness, shown in prayer or beating his chest with a rock. Here, the Saint has chosen a secluded dale and a makeshift desk by a brook to work quietly on his translation of the Bible into Latin. The mood, as Clifford Ackley put it, ‘is more that of a sun-bathed summer retreat than of penitential isolation.’ (Ackley, 2003, p. 222).