Hermitary - Gallery - Art

About the images on this page

Hieronymus, or Jerome of Stridon (347-420), was a popular subject of painting for serveral reasons. Jerome was an accomplished scholar and ecclesiastical diplomat, known for his famous translation of the Hebrew and Greek Bible into Latin, for his numerous polemical essays, and for receiving the cardinalship. But for our interest Jerome is particularly notable for his biography of St. Paul of Thebes, the first Christian hermit, described by Jerome in a little hagiographical essay intended, in effect, to downplay the storied St. Anthony promoted by Athanasius of Alexandria as the first Christian hermit!
Jerome early confirmed his respect for asceticism by venturing on a five-year stint as a hermit in his young twenties. The painters are clearly intrigued by Jerome's period as a hermit, their depictions often titled as Jerome in the desert or in the wilderness or as a penitent. At the same time, out of exaggerated respect, Jerome is always pictured as a mature figure. The painters often add the color red to his garments, conspicuously referring to Jerome's red robes and hat as a cardinal. The skull on the table or desk (memento mori) reflects the subject's wisdom. Another Jerome identifier is the tame lion appearing in many backgrounds of the paintings. The story of Jerome pulling a thorn from a lion's paw, garnering the lion's life-long affection, is familiar from the ancient Greek tale of Androcles. The lion story not only alludes to the lions that kindly dug the grave of St. Paul of Thebes but fits well the reputation of a hermit's kindness in the desert.