In the Southern Netherlands we often find examples of seventeenth-century religious sculpture in the churches themselves. Many richly decorated original gothic altars, choir stalls and pulpits, as well as separate sculptures, were lost in the iconoclasm. Many of them were replaced with baroque sculpture. The origins of the larger than life statue of Jerome is not known. It represents the half-naked standing figure of the saint holding a papyrus scroll in his right hand. St. Jerome was a respected Church Father. He wrote a Latin translation of the Bible, symbolised here by the papyrus scroll. Later he became a hermit in the desert. The skull in his left hand, a symbol of the transience of life, reminds us of his life as a hermit. The sculpture is attributed to Artus Quellinus II, who worked mainly in Antwerp.
| Artist |
Artus II Quellinus
RKD
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | Saint Jerome |
| Period | 17th century |
| Collection | sculpture AAT |
| Object type | oak (wood) AAT |
| Inventory number | 1918-AW |
| Acquisition credit |
gift
Casier, Joseph 1918 |
| Current whereabouts | Work on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1918-AW |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/773/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus | 300055874 religious symbolism AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
11H
saints
Iconclass
11H(JEROME) the monk and hermit Jerome (Hieronymus); possible attributes: book, cardinal's hat, crucifix, hour-glass, lion, skull, stone Iconclass 31A the (nude) human figure; 'Corpo humano' (Ripa) Iconclass 31A2 anatomy (non-medical) Iconclass 31A211 (human) skull Iconclass 31A231 standing figure Iconclass 31A2311 'contrapposto', 'Standbein und Spielbein' Iconclass 31A534 beard Iconclass 31A71 male sex; man Iconclass 31D14 adult man Iconclass 41D2339 barefoot Iconclass 49L64 materials to write on, writing surfaces Iconclass 49L642 papyrus (writing material) Iconclass |
| School / Style | Baroque AAT |
| Oude Meesters uit het Museum voor schone Kunsten Gent in de crypte van de Sint-Baafskathedraal. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2004 (s.p., cat. 36) |
|
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