The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 5, 2023

Saint Jerome

c. 1638–40

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

Fun Fact

Ribera signed the painting on the spine of the book in which Jerome will write.

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]. F."

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

1 1In 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.
2 1According to Harry G. Sperling, the president of F. Kleinberger, & Co., the painting had been in an unknown private collection in Italy for generations.
Citations
Stock cards, 1897-1973, and clipping file, F. Kleinberger, & Co., European Paintings, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Spear, Richard E. Caravaggio and His Followers. New York: Harper & Row, 1975.
Harry G. Sperling, letter to Henry S. Francis, Oct. 6, 1961, in CMA curatorial file.
Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 198
Stock cards, 1897-1973, and clipping file, F. Kleinberger, & Co., European Paintings, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
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.
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 (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961).

El Greco to Goya, A Loan Exhibition of Spanish Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN (organizer) (February 10-March 24, 1963); Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (February 10-March 24, 1963).

700 Years of Spanish Art. Cummer Museum of Art, Jacksonville, FL (organizer) (October 28-November 30, 1965).

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

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.219