| Artist | Jan van Eyck |
|---|---|
| Year | 1442 |
| Type | Oil on panel |
| Dimensions | 20.6 cm × 13.3 cm (8.1 in × 5.2 in) |
| Location | Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit |
Saint Jerome in His Study is a fresco attributed to the early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck and his workshop, executed in 1442 and located in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, USA.
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Since the date on the painting is subsesquent to Jan van Eyck's death (June 1441), it is likely that the work, left unfinished, had been completed by his collaborators.
A work with a similar subject is mentioned in the inventories of Palazzo Medici, in Florence, which had been drawn up after the deat of Lorenzo de' Medici in 1492. Even if not the work now at Detroit, this could have been the latter's prototype, since the painting is not unanimously attributed to van Eyck. There are indeed striking similarities between this work and Domenico Ghirlandaio's Saint Jerome in His Study (1480).
The painting depicts Saint Jerome in the traditional representation inside his study. He wears the cardinal's dress and hat, and is reading a book, in a small study clodded with numerous objects showing his erudition and interests. Below is a lion, recalling the saint's legend in which he had extracted a thorn from the paw of the animal, who had later remained loyal to him.
The light enters from a window behind the writing desk and from the foreground, in order to illuminate any detail of the scene. Objects on the desk and the shelves include a hourglass, a telescope, a ruler, an astrolabe, numerous books and writing instruments, all peculiar of the idealized man of the Renaissance.