Title: Saint Jerome

Artist: Ercole de’ Roberti

Title: Saint Jerome in the Wilderness Date: About 1475 Artist: Ercole de’ Roberti Artist Details: Italian, Ferrara about 1456–about 1496 Medium: Tempera on panel Description Seated before the vaulted ruin of his hermitage, Saint Jerome contemplates a crucifix. The scorching heat of the desert sun is evoked by a thin application of real gold to parts of the painted surface. Despite his careworn features and languid pose, Jerome’s taut limbs convey his vitality. Small, refined, and costly, paintings such as this one were prized by the ruling court in the artist's native Ferrara. Jerome, a scholar, embodied the union of Christian piety and classical education that so appealed to the cultivated elite. His lion companion, rump turned toward the viewer, betrays a hint of drollness characteristic of Ferrarese courtly taste.