St. Jerome Penitent 1455

Editor: This panel painting is Antonello da Messina's "St. Jerome Penitent," from around 1455, made with oil paints. The detail is just astonishing. What strikes me is this sense of solitude, almost loneliness, that radiates from the figure within such a vast landscape. How do you interpret this work? Curator: What I see is a deliberate interplay between the spiritual and the social. Antonello places Jerome not in a vacuum, but within a landscape imbued with both natural and man-made structures. It’s crucial to acknowledge that Jerome's penitence, his personal journey, doesn’t occur outside of a historical context. Notice his abandoned garments? What do they signify to you? Editor: Abandonment of earthly possessions, maybe? Detachment from his previous life of privilege? Curator: Precisely. But think more broadly: the rejection of power structures. St. Jerome was, after all, a figure of immense authority within the Church. Antonello, I believe, invites us to question such hierarchical structures by depicting Jerome actively divesting himself from them. And who is given agency in contrast with this moment? Look to the inclusion of the lion! What does its proximity to the man signal to you? Editor: Is it a reference to his time healing a lion and subsequently leading it to a monastery? Almost a depiction of companionship with the “outsider” or “beast” and the ability for interspecies friendships and shared spaces? Curator: Yes, in positioning the man, garments, and wild beast within the same frame we witness what feels like an attempt at shared experience. Editor: I had only focused on St. Jerome’s personal sacrifice. Now I see that it is a form of resistance, that his turning away connects him to alternative paths of belonging. Thank you! Curator: My pleasure. Seeing art through this lens can reveal hidden dimensions, creating a more profound connection to our shared histories.