Saint Jerome in His Study

Description St. Jerome (ca. 341-420 CE), the greatest Christian scholar of the classics, is revered for his translation of the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew into Latin. He completed it in a monastery in Palestine, which the artist has suggested in the view through the window by adding camels to an otherwise Flemish landscape. The admonition that Jerome has fixed to the wall, "Cogita Mori" (Think upon death), is made explicit by the skull. His Bible is open to an image of the Last Judgment, while the hourglass and candle, objects commonly found on a desk, are further reminders of the passage of time and the imminence of death. Pieter Coecke van Aelst's large studio in Antwerp produced many variations on this subject.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
7/20/1939	Treatment	filled; inpainted; varnish removed or reduced
9/09/1942	Treatment	other
12/01/1943	Treatment	coated; inpainted; varnish removed or reduced
8/01/1978	Treatment	coated; filled; inpainted; loss compensation; varnish removed or reduced
10/23/1984	Treatment	coated; inpainted
7/01/1989	Examination	examined for exhibition
7/31/1992	Examination	examined for condition

Exhibitions

• World of Wonder. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1971-1972.
• Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984-1985.
• Death and Dying in the Middle Ages. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1987.
• A Renaissance Puzzle: Heemskerck's Abduction of Helen. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1993.
• Highlights from the Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998-2001.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Transcription] Cogita Mori; [Translation] Think upon death

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters