Saint John the Baptist and Saint Jerome
Unknown Rhenish Master
UNKNOWN RHENISH MASTER, c.1478. OIL AND GOLD ON PANEL.
The two men stand at ease as if caught unexpectedly in oil paint, a candid moment granted immortality. Yet for the naturalistic pose that Saint John the Baptist and Saint Jerome exhibit, they are laden with symbolism in every element of their depiction. The small, rather surreal lamb that sits atop St. John’s leather book is recognition of Christ as the sacrificial Lamb of God, while his camel hair tunic is testament to the patience of his faith and the power of endurance. Jerome is clad in red cardinal garments that honour his religious scholarship; bestowing upon him an honour that was not granted in his life. He holds the thorn he removed from a lions paw and a book, most likely the Bible that he translated into Latin from Hebrew. This symbolically and aesthetically dense work was most likely adornment for a larger painting of Christ’s crucifixion, a wing on a possible triptych, that has now been lost. For all of its visual poetry and the impossibility of the scene it depicts, for the two saints lived centuries apart, it feels strangely intimate, deeply personal and painted with the honesty of faith and respect.