St. Jerome

There are two other images of St. Jerome by the "Master of the Legend of St. Lucy." This small panel is probably two thirds of the original painting. St. George and the Dragon must have been represented in small scale in the upper left background in the original composition, but that side of the panel was later cut, leaving only the small figure of the princess. Originally the Crucifixion would have appeared on the left, with a lion beneath, alluding to St. Jerome's act of pulling a thorn from the lion's foot. St. Jerome was one of the four great patriarchs of the Latin church and this work shows St. Jerome in the act of penitence, striking his breast with a stone as he holds a flagel in his left hand. The spire of the cathedral of Bruges appears in the left background, along with the princess saved by St. George. The right background shows two hermits set in a landscape rendered in the minutely intricate brushwork characteristic of 15th-century Flemish painting. In particular, the handling of such flowers as the irises in the lower right is particularly striking. One theory suggests that this painting is a joint work by the Master of the Legend of St. Lucy and the Master of the Legends of St. Ursula. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 8)