Allori, Alessandro (1535-1607)
San Girolamo penitente (The Penitent Saint Jerome)
1606
Oil on wood panel, 52.7 x 41.6 cm
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton
While in the Syrian desert (A.D. 374–379), Jerome was tempted by Satan (the monster in the crevice under the table). This scene is set in the Holy Land, where he lived after a.d. 386. The garments, books, inkpot, and quill remind the viewer that Jerome was a cleric, and responsible for the Vulgate Bible. He stands before a landscape with the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the distance, and also the grotto of the Nativity, in the church’s crypt, neighboring the grotto where Jerome worked and died. The skull and masks, symbolizing the transience of human existence, perhaps held special meaning for Allori, who signed the work in Latin on the rock at the bottom right: “AD 1606 Alexander Bronzinus Allorius, a Florentine Citizen: while he painted he could not draw better.” (PUAM)