16th Century Italian Oil On Panel, 'san Girolamo' Entourage By Prospero Fontana

This splendid panel, made in the last decades of the sixteenth century, depicts San Girolamo, a monk who lived between the 4th and 5th centuries, presented according to the iconography of the hermit retreating in the desert while he is about to hit his chest with a stone as a sign of penance.

St. Jerome
Bolognese school of the 16th century
Entourage by Prospero Fontana (Bologna 1512 - 1597)

Technique: oil on poplar board, parquet on the back
Measures: table 41 x 29 cm, frame 53 x 42

Details of the work (https://www.antichitacastelbarco.it/it/prodotto/san-girolamo-fontana):

The painting, of Emilian origin, is undoubtedly indebted to the models created by Prospero Fontana (1512-1597), a skilled painter of the Bolognese mannerism who, after practicing with Perin del Vaga, opened a school in Bologna that had a significant role in the maturation of the Emilian painting in the second half of the 16th century. The quality of the execution and the character of the character suggest that the table should be included in the extremely complex catalog of the works performed by the shop.

The elderly Saint is depicted half-naked, with the slender body from which the outlined musculature stands out, while genuflected he strikes his chest with a stone and looks at Christ on the processional crucifix, which he supports with his left arm resting with his elbow on a sort of altar carved out of the rock, on which the open book also rests, its canonical iconographic attribute, referring to his fruitful activity as a biblical scholar and theologian, which made him the forerunner of the Renaissance humanist. In the penumbra on the left of the hermit is the lion, with a sly expression.

The work shows a mixture of pictorial stylistic features that makes it difficult to approach a specific hand: you can read elements of transition between the Flemish mannerism of ancestry and the Italianizing taste of the composure of the character.

The table, in excellent condition, is accompanied by a certificate of photographic authenticity in accordance with the law. Performed professional marking on the back.

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