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Busts of Saints Jerome and Gregory
Atelier of Jörg Syrlin the YoungerEurope, Northern Renaissance (1475-1600)
University of Michigan Museum of Art
Ann Arbor, United States
Details
- Title: Busts of Saints Jerome and Gregory
- Creator: Atelier of Jörg Syrlin the Younger
- Creator Nationality: German
- Date Created: Europe, Northern Renaissance (1475-1600)
- Location: Baden-Wÿrttemberg, Germany
- Physical Dimensions: w49 x h50.4 x d20 (work)
- Label Copy: The striking naturalism and powerful characterization of these busts endow them with a palpable presence, almost as if one stood before the saints themselves. Saint Jerome (about 340 - 420), who wrote the authoritative Latin translation of the Bible, is depicted as an introspective youth with a miniature lion - more charming than fierce - perched on his shoulder. At his side, the influential pope Gregory I (about 540 - 604) holds an open book and wears a papal tiara on his careworn brow. The pair of saints came from a large, spectacular altarpiece outfitted with doors and brimming with sculpture. Within this complex ensemble, Jerome and Gregory leaned out from the horizontal base of the altarpiece, known as a predella or Sarg, alongside similar busts of the sainted bishops Ambrose and Augustine. Together the four saints were known as the Doctors of the Church, since their writings provided a foundation for Christian theology and dogma in Western Europe. The realism of such images made them potentially dangerous in the eyes of religious reformers. Ulrich Zwingli (1484 - 1531), the zealous leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, decried the naturalism of religious art as a potential temptation to sin: "There stands a [Saint] Sebastian, a [Saint] Maurice and the gentle John the Evangelist, so cavalier, soldier-like and pimpish that the women have had to make confession about them." Similar convictions led to the widespread destruction of religious imagery throughout German-speaking lands during the Reformation, which may explain why this engaging pair of saints is all that remains of what must have once been a much larger altarpiece.
- Type: Sculpture
- External Link: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1958-sl-1.59/1958_1.59.JPG?lasttype=boolean;lastview=thumbnail;resnum=1;sel9=ic_exact;size=20;sort=relevance;start=1;subview=detail;view=entry;rgn1=musart_an;select1=ic_exact;q1=1958%2F1.59
- Medium: lindenwood with polychromy
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