| In this late example of chiaroscuro painting, Paolo Pagani depicts his "St Jerome" in the desert. Pagani’s reputation rests on his dynamic representation of the human body: here the saint swings his right arm back in a dramatic gesture as he prepares to strike his breast with a stone as an act of penitence, the range of his movement reflecting the violence of his emotions. His powerful body is wedged into a narrow horizontal space that further reinforces the fierceness of his emotional outburst. In the tradition of Caravaggio, Pagani has the saint’s naked body gleam in the dark without any visible source of light, thus emphasizing the drama and realism of the setting. The consequences of Jerome’s existence as a hermit are apparent in his dirty fingernails and tangled, greasy hair that lend him human qualities to which the viewer can easily relate. Here naturalism in the manner of Caravaggio is coupled with a highly painterly treatment. |
 |
|
|
|
Oil on canvas
height 118 cm, width 149 cm
Inv.-No. GE3
Provenance: 1812 acquired by Prince Johann I von Liechtenstein from Georg Radl in Vienna
|
|
|
|
| On display in |
|
|
|
|
|
