Saint Jerome

Ribera's Saint Jerome, painted around 1638-40, depicts the Church Father and translator of the Vulgate Bible in his characteristic role as a penitent hermit in the wilderness. Ribera painted Saint Jerome numerous times throughout his career, finding in the ascetic scholar an ideal subject for his combination of intellectual gravity and physical naturalism. By the late 1630s, Ribera's style had mellowed from his earlier severe tenebrism toward warmer, more luminous coloring.

Ribera's mature technique is evident in the masterful rendering of the saint's aged body, with warm flesh tones built up through translucent glazes over a dark ground. The anatomical detail is extraordinary, with muscles, tendons, and skin rendered with both scientific accuracy and painterly expressiveness.