Detail of St. Jerome in his Study by Joos van Cleve in the Princeton University Art Museum, July 2011

Joos van Cleve, Flemish, ca. 1485–1540/41

Saint Jerome in His Study, 1528

Oil on wood panel

39.7 x 28.8 cm (15 5/8 x 11 5/16 in.)
frame: 58.7 x 47.9 x 3.5 cm (23 1/8 x 18 7/8 x 1 3/8 in.)

Gift of Joseph F. McCrindle

y1982-76

J. P. Heseltine (until 1912; sale, Christie’s London, July 12, 1912, lot 56, to Gooden and Fox); Frederick Anthony White, London (until 1925; sale, December 18, 1925, lot 82, bought in; sale, Christie’s London, April 20, 1934, lot 125, to Dr. Fisher or Fischer); Brian Sewell, London (around 1960s); Joseph McCrindle, London and Princeton (around 1960s–1982; gift to Princeton University Art Museum). Inscribed on wall: HOMO BULLA; 1528

Catalogue Entry:

This Saint Jerome by the Antwerp artist Joos van Cleve shows the direct influence of a painting by Albrecht Dürer, now in the Prado, Madrid, executed during the German master’s trip to the Netherlands in 1521. Van Cleve’s homage to Dürer, dated the year of his death, is teeming with hidden symbolism, objects showing the double nature of a world in which God’s creation has Christian meanings below surface appearances. It is a memento mori, a reminder of imminent death, as the saint points to a human skull to recall the human condition of mortality. The motto on the wall, Homo Bulla — man is a bubble — also signifies the brevity of earthly life, as does the snuffed-out candle. Saint Jerome was devoted to the Virgin Mary, and the daylight passing through the drinking glass, carafe, and window alludes to the Virgin birth, in which Jesus was born even as Mary’s virginity remained intact. Christian symbols include the string of beads, or rosary; the aspergillum for holy water; and the fruit that reminds us of the fall of man and God’s promise of redemption. The saint’s book, pen, inkwell, glasses, and scroll refer to his roles as translator of the Vulgate Bible and author of commentaries, activities that account for his popularity in an age of Christian humanism and debate over the new Lutheran doctrine.

Gallery Label:

Joos van Cleve painted several images of Saint Jerome, who translated Greek and Hebrew biblical texts into the standard Latin versions that eventually formed the Vulgate. This version is considered the superlative example of this subject within the artist’s oeuvre. The composition is tightly organized, limiting the proliferation of worldly accoutrements and eliminating the diverting window-framed landscape the Antwerp artist usually favored. The large area accorded to the figure, his melancholy attitude, and his gesture toward the skull suggest that the artist consciously emulated Albrecht Dürer’s influential Saint Jerome panel of 1521. The emphasis on the saint’s asceticism and spiritual interiority suits the memento mori theme: the skull presents the specter of death, and the placard bearing the motto homo bvlla (“Man is a bubble”) warns of humanity’s common mortality.

Text from: artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/32773