Lot Essay
Saint Jerome (circa 341-420) was a monk and Doctor of the Church. While in Palestine, he dreamt that he appeared before God's judgement-seat and was condemned for being Ciceronian rather than a Christian. Following this experience he became a hermit in the desert in Syria for five years and learnt Hebrew to study the Scripture in its original language. Already he had learnt Greek, so that, with his master of style and rhetoric, he was equipped for his future achievements as a writer and translator. One of the main causes for which Saint Jerome fought was the provision of an accurate text of the Bible through recourse to the original languages and previous translations. He produced a standard Latin text of the Bible while in Rome, and then in 385 left Italy for Bethlehem where he stayed until his death.
The Saint is often represented in art as a scholar seated in his study, absorbed in his work, or as a hermit in the desert, gripping a stone, the sign of voluntary penance. A lion usually accompanies him, as legend tells that he removed a thorn from the animal's paw. In Drer's Saint Jerome in his Study we find the Doctor of the Church portrayed as the perfect representative of divinely inspired erudition. As such, the print can be seen as the spiritual antithesis of Melencolia I, in that Saint Jerome 'opposes a life in the service of God to what may be called a life in competition with God - the peaceful bliss of divine wisdom to the tragic unrest of human creation' (Panofsky). There is strong contrast in the overall mood in the two works. The feeling of peace and tranquillity in Saint Jerome is achieved through the ordered composition, and carefully described perspective. A warm light bathes the scene and the saint is set deeply within the comfortable and rational setting. In contrast, the figure of Melencolia is placed prominently in the foreground, surrounded by seemingly randomly placed scientific instruments. This profusion of hard edges and angles opposes the soft repetition of the circular forms (the skull, pear, hat, head of the Saint, arch of the dog's back, etc ...) in Saint Jerome in his Study. With these works, Drer was truly at the height of his career as a print-maker, displaying absolute mastery of the engraving technique.
The Saint is often represented in art as a scholar seated in his study, absorbed in his work, or as a hermit in the desert, gripping a stone, the sign of voluntary penance. A lion usually accompanies him, as legend tells that he removed a thorn from the animal's paw. In Drer's Saint Jerome in his Study we find the Doctor of the Church portrayed as the perfect representative of divinely inspired erudition. As such, the print can be seen as the spiritual antithesis of Melencolia I, in that Saint Jerome 'opposes a life in the service of God to what may be called a life in competition with God - the peaceful bliss of divine wisdom to the tragic unrest of human creation' (Panofsky). There is strong contrast in the overall mood in the two works. The feeling of peace and tranquillity in Saint Jerome is achieved through the ordered composition, and carefully described perspective. A warm light bathes the scene and the saint is set deeply within the comfortable and rational setting. In contrast, the figure of Melencolia is placed prominently in the foreground, surrounded by seemingly randomly placed scientific instruments. This profusion of hard edges and angles opposes the soft repetition of the circular forms (the skull, pear, hat, head of the Saint, arch of the dog's back, etc ...) in Saint Jerome in his Study. With these works, Drer was truly at the height of his career as a print-maker, displaying absolute mastery of the engraving technique.