Updated 07 March 2025
On Display Special Exhibition Wing
On Display
Special Exhibition Wing
St. Jerome
| Date | End of the 15th century |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | tempera on panel, transferred on plywood |
| Size（cm） | 46 x 32.5 |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1971-0001 |
There are two other images of St. Jerome by the "Master of the Legend of St. Lucy." This small panel is probably two thirds of the original painting. St. George and the Dragon must have been represented in small scale in the upper left background in the original composition, but that side of the panel was later cut, leaving only the small figure of the princess. Originally the Crucifixion would have appeared on the left, with a lion beneath, alluding to St. Jerome's act of pulling a thorn from the lion's foot. St. Jerome was one of the four great patriarchs of the Latin church and this work shows St. Jerome in the act of penitence, striking his breast with a stone as he holds a flagel in his left hand. The spire of the cathedral of Bruges appears in the left background, along with the princess saved by St. George. The right background shows two hermits set in a landscape rendered in the minutely intricate brushwork characteristic of 15th-century Flemish painting. In particular, the handling of such flowers as the irises in the lower right is particularly striking. One theory suggests that this painting is a joint work by the Master of the Legend of St. Lucy and the Master of the Legends of St. Ursula. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 8)
Provenance
Vicomte Bernard d'Heudecourt; Achillito Chiesa, New York, 1925; Private collection, Den Haag; Private collection, Bruges; Private collection, U. S. A.; Purchased by the NMWA, 1972.
Exhibition History
- 1960
- Fleurs et jardins dans l'art flamand, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Gent, 10 April 1960 - 26 June 1960, cat. no. 177
- 1978
- European Landscape Painting, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kofu, 3 November 1978 - 15 January 1979, cat. no. 1
- 1996
- The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 58
Bibliography
- 1964
- Marlier, Georges. Le Maître de la légende de sainte Ursule. Jaarboek, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerpen. 1964, p. 38, no. 36.
- 1968
- New Catalogue no. XIV/1968: Masterpieces from Three Centuries. The Cramer Gallery, The Hague, 1968, cat. no. 42.
- 1971
- Friedländer, Max J. Early Netherlandish Painting. vol. 6/b, Leiden/Brussels, 1971, p. 111, no. supp. 243, pl. 239, note 151, p. 133, pp. 115-116, add. 284.
- 1973
- Bulletin Annuel du Musée National d’Art Occidental. No.6 (1971), 1973, Nouvelles acquisitions, par Chisaburoh F. Yamada, pp. 3-5. Nouvelles acquisitions (catalogue). pp.6-7, repr.
- 1973
- Gazette des Beaux-Arts. ser. 6, tome 81, Feb. 1973, "Chronique des Arts", p. 233, no. 842, repr.
- 1975
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 8, repr.
- 1978
- Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 7, repr.
- 1979
- The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 177, repr.
- 1989
- Kobayashi-Sato, Yoriko. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings in Japan I. Annual Report Bridgestone Museum of Art & Ishibashi Museum of Art. no. 37 (1988), 1989, p. 45, no. 18, repr.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 8, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 8, col. repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 5, col. repr.
- 2018
- Kofuku, Akira. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. [Tokyo], The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; The Western Art Foundation, 2018, pp. 33-35, no. 5, col. repr.