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Saint Jerome

c. 1638-1640

Jusepe de Ribera

(Spanish, 1591-1652)

Spain, 17th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 150 x 121.5 x 9 cm (59 1/16 x 47 13/16 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 129 x 100.3 cm (50 13/16 x 39 1/2 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1961.219

Location

212 Baroque Painting and Sculpture

Description

Saint Jerome (about ad 347–420) translated biblical texts into Latin. Although he sometimes appears as a scholar in his study, Ribera represents him here as a penitent who withdrew to the desert, beating his chest with a stone to emulate Christ’s suffering and contemplating a skull symbolizing human vanity. Working in Naples, Ribera enthusiastically adapted Caravaggio’s characteristic use of light and dark and naturalistic models.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed lower right: "Jusepe de Ribera espa[ñol]"

Provenance

1961-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

1960-1961

(F. Kleinberger & Co., New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

Until 1960

(Alessandro Morandotti, Zurich, sold to F. Kleinberger in 1960)1 ¹

Until c. 1960?

Private collection, Italy, probably consigned to Alessandro Morandotti1 ²

Provenance Footnotes

¹1In Richard Spear’s Caravaggio and his Followers, as well as in the museum’s files, the owner of the painting prior to F. Kleinberger was cited as a private collector in Italy. The Kleinberger stock card for this painting reveals that the gallery purchased the painting from “Morandotti,” presumably Alessandro Morandotti, a dealer based in Zurich. A letter from Harry G. Sperling, the president of F. Kleinberger, to former CMA curator Henry S. Francis suggests that Morandotti sold the painting to Kleinberger on behalf of this unnamed private collector: “The Ribera was purchased by me officially in Zurich, Switzerland. I had seen it for the first time in Italy and agreed to buy it if it was offered to me in Zurich…The painting came directly from private hands, where supposedly it was in the family for generations. I was not given the name of the family.” When Morandotti died in 1979, his archives were dismantled.

²1According to Harry G. Sperling, the president of F. Kleinberger, & Co., the painting had been in an unknown private collection in Italy for generations.

Provenance Citations

Harry G. Sperling, letter to Henry S. Francis, Oct. 6, 1961, in CMA curatorial file.

Spear, Richard E. Caravaggio and His Followers. New York: Harper & Row, 1975.

Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.

Stock cards, 1897-1973, and clipping file, F. Kleinberger, & Co., European Paintings, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.

Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 198

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 131 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 131 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 151 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 504-506; Reproduced: p. 505

Ximo Company and María Antonia Argelich, José de Ribera, San Jerónimo estudiando. Lleida: Centre d'Art d'Època Moderna, Universitat de Lleida, 2013. Reproduced: p. 25, fig. 40

Marshall, Christopher R. Baroque Naples and the Industry of Painting: The World in the Workbench. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 56, fig. 41

Exhibition history

CMA, November 1961: "Year in Review," cat., bull., (November 1961), p. 250 no. 68, repr. p. 218.

John Herron Art Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana, February 10- march 24, 1963: "El Greco to Goya: A Loan Exhibition of Spanish Painting of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries," cat. no. 68, pl. 68 (catalogue by David Carter); Rhode Island School of Design, Providence RI April15-May 26, 1963.

Jacksonville, Florida, Cummer Gallery of Art, 1965: " 700 Years of Spanish Art," cat. no. 31, illus. (October-November 1965).

CMA October 29, 1971- January 2 1972: "Carravaggion and His Followers," cat. no. 57 (revised 1975), repr. p. 155.

Fort Worth, Texas, The Kimbell Art Museum, 1982-83: "The Tangible World of the Spirit: The Paintings of Jusepe de Ribers,"

CMA November 6, 1984- January 6, 1985: "Baroque Imagery," cat. # 6, pp. 23-24, repr. p. 24.

Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 1-26, 1961).

Baroque Imagery. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 1984-January 6, 1985).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Saint Jerome|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1961.219|author=Jusepe de Ribera|year=c. 1638-1640|access-date=21 October 2019|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Saint Jerome

Saint Jerome

Jusepe de Ribera

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Provenance Footnotes

Provenance Citations

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