St. Jerome

St. Jerome, his cardinal's hat on the floor beside him, reads a book in the wilderness. The cardinal's hat is a traditional reference to St. John's service as an advisor to Pope Damasus I. Near him lies the lion, a reference to the story from The Golden Legend, in which St. Jerome removed a thorn from the lion's paw.

The foremost Netherlandish printmaker of the early sixteenth century, Lucas van Leyden began producing prints quite young. He was keenly aware of the work produced by the greatest printmaker of his day, the German Albrecht Dürer and, as he absorbed the lessons from Dürer, he responded to them in inventive ways rather than by mere copying. St. Jerome of 1513 is an early work by the artist and it seems likely that Lucas knew Dürer's engraving St. Jerome Penitent in the Wilderness, created about 1496 (19.73.69).