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27
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30. StJerome,by Antonello da Messina. 39 by 31 31. AlfonsoV, by Pisanello. 9 by 5 cm. (The Met- 32. Detail of Fig.34.
cm. (Galleria Nazionale, Palermo).
ropolitan Museum of Art, New York).
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33. St Jeromein Penitence,by Antonello da Messina. 41 by 31 cm. (Museo 34. St Jeromein his Study, by Antonello da Messina. 46 by 36.5 cm. (National
della Magna Grecia, Reggio Calabria). Gallery).
the greatest of the Neapolitan quattrocento artists.1 It is the figure of Jerome is a disguised portraits grows stronger when
object of this paper to suggest another link with the Neapolitan one looks at the various surviving portraits of Alfonso V. A
milieu, which supports an early date for the painting: the comparison with the plaque made by Pisanello in 1448-49
figure of Jerome may be a disguised portrait of Alfonso V of (Fig.31), shows that both have the same distinctive facial fea-
Aragon, king of Naples from 1442 until his death in 1458. tures (Fig.32). In both there is the long, straight brow leading
That the face of St Jerome is a disguised portrait can best be to a sharp indentation at the top of an aquiline nose. The lips
demonstrated when it is compared with the two other images are slim and tight and the chin small. The face is only slightly
of Jerome painted by Antonello. His St Jerome in Penitence corpulent, and the crease from the side of the nose down to the
(Reggio Calabria, Fig.33) shows the typically Italian view of corner of the mouth is sharply articulated in both. Even
the saint: an elderly figure with a full, white beard and a Alfonso's distinctive hairline is apparent underJerome's cap: a
balding head. In contrast, the St Jeromein Palermo (Fig.30) small tuft of hair is visible high on the forehead, then there is a
derives from a different tradition, to which Antonello fre- parted area with a few strands of hair, then the hair is full
quently turns, that of northern European art.2 Here we see a again, creating a straight line from the temple down along the
youthful, dark-haired man with a low brow and a long straight ear lobe and around the neck. The treatment of the cheek and
nose. His lips are full, his eyebrows strongly drawn, and his neck is somewhat smoother than in Pisanello's and in other
chin, cheek and neck smooth. Such youthfulJeromes are found portraits; but the basic, characteristic features are clearly pres-
in the art of Jan van Eyck and other northerners. In all likeli- ent. Indeed, the slight abstraction of the facial features, par-
hood Antonello had seen the figure of Jerome in the Lomellini ticularly the chin and neck area, is a consistent and distinctive
Triptych,a work owned by King Alfonso in Naples.3 feature of Antonello's portraits. In general, Antonello focuses
The saint in the London St Jeromein his Studydiffers from on the central parts of the face - the eyebrows, eyes, nose and
both types. He is a middle-aged man with quite distinctive mouth - by painting them in greater detail, and handles the
facial features. His deep-set eyes, slightly corpulent cheeks and more peripheral areas with less articulation. Never, even in his
aquiline nose, moreover, set him apart from Antonello's rather most individualised portrait, does he approach the camera-like
standardised treatments of male saints.4 The belief that the consistency of attention to detail evident in otherwise similar
portraits by Jan van Eyck.
Why would Alfonso - neither Jerome by name nor an
1The work measures 46 by 36.5 cm; see M. DAVIES: The EarlierItalian Schools, ecclesiastic by profession - be depicted in the guise of St
2nd ed., London [1961], pp.40-41. For a recent review of scholarly opinion on Jerome? Antonello is most probably comparing Alfonso's per-
dating, see N. LITTLE: 'A note on the date of the London 'St. Jerome in his sonal qualities with the two different yet related aspects of the
study' by Antonello da Messina', Arte Veneta,XXX [1976], p.154 and notes
2-5. In addition, J. WRIGHT: 'Antonello da Messina: The origins of his style and personality of StJerome which made him very popular among
technique', Art History, III [1980], p.51, dates it c. 1460, but on the basis of
the humanists of the quattrocento: his religious piety and his
Little's article. Only rarely have scholars dated it at any time other than scholarship. St Jerome, already gaining in popularity in the
1450-60 or 1475-76: see J. O'GORMAN: TheArchitecture of the MonasticLibraryin late fourteenth century, became the most esteemed humanist
Italy: 1300-1600,New York [1972], p.3, who on the basis of architectural forms saint in the fifteenth. Cardinals or humanists whose christian
dates it c. 1470; and P. MURRAY:Antonello,'The Masters', Vol.20, Paulton
names were not Jerome adopted the saint as their patron
[1966], p.4, as c. 1470 and painted while Antonello was in southern Italy. On
Colantonio and his dependency upon Flemish and French art, see F. BOLOGNA: because they felt a link with this monk who was also a great
Napolie le Rotte Mediterranee dellapitturada Alfonsoil magnanimoa Ferdinandoil scholar of Greek and Latin.6 Images of the scholarly saint at
Cattolico,Naples [1977], pp.53ff. work proliferate, and more and more frequently they are dis-
2 The undated St Jeromein Penitenceis a
youthful work by Antonello, while the
Palermo Jeromemay well be part of the Caltagirone polyptych for which a guised portraits of or allusions to a specific person: the Eyckian
payment record exists from 1473. On the varying traditions for depicting
StJeromein Detroit has been dealt with at length as a disguised
Jerome, see A. STRiMPELL: 'Hieronymus im Gehiuse',
Marburgerjahrbuchfu'r
portrait of Cardinal Niccol6 Albergati, while the Portraitof a
Kunstwissenschaft, II [1925-26], pp.173ff. and A. VENTURI: L'Artea San Gerolamo, Cardinalas St Jerome attributed to Correggio (Minneapolis
Milan [1924]. Institute of Art) and Lucas Cranach's CardinalBrandenburg as
3 The LomelliniTriptychis now lost, but was described by Bartolomeo Fazio c.
St Jerome in his Study (Gemiildegalerie, Darmstadt) are more
1456, when it was in the possession of Alfonso, as showing portraits of the
donors Battista Lomellini and his wife on the exterior, and an Annunciation obvious in their flattery.7 In the later fifteenth and early six-
flanked by John the Baptist and St Jeromein his Studyon the interior. For the teenth century an increasing number of portraits are painted
complete description, see M. BAXANDALL:'Bartholomaeus Facius on Painting:
A Fifteenth Century Manuscript of the De VirisIllustribus',Journalof the War-
burg and CourtauldInstitutes,XXVII[1964], pp.102 and 103. Scholars have
generally supposed that Jan van Eyck's LomelliniTriptychwas the source for the
Flemish qualities in the London Jerome.Theyouthful Jerome in Palermo is
similar in type to the saint in StJeromein his Study(Institute of Arts, Detroit),
painted by Jan van Eyck or made as a replica of a Jan van Eyck. The authen-
ticity of this Eyckian panel has once again been challenged, this time on the
basis of a technical analysis. R. H. MARIJNISSEN: 'On Scholarship: Some
Reflections on the Study of Early-Netherlandish Painting', Mededelingen vande s After beginning this study, this author was pleased to find that E. WINDhad
KoninklijkeAcademievoorWetenschappen, LetterenenSchoneKunstenvanBelgie,Klasse suggested that the LondonJeromeincluded a disguised portrait of a humanist:
de SchoneKunsten,XL [1978], pp.3ff., offers evidence that the painting is a 'Studies in Allegorical Portraiture, I',Journalof the Warburgand Courtauld Insti-
nineteenth-century fake. He suggests that a forger, familiar with the 1492 tutes, I [1937-38], p.153, n.1.
6 E.g. humanists at Lionello d'Este's court at Ferrara. Consult M.BAXANDALL:
Medici inventory and with Ghirlandaio's St Jerome(Ognissanti, Florence) of
1480, 'recreated' a lost painting by Jan van Eyck. While this author would not 'Guarino, Pisanello and Manuel Chrysoloras',Journalof the Warburgand Cour-
refute Marijnissen's technical findings that this panel cannot be a fifteenth or tauldInstitutes,XXVIII [1965], pp.196-7. On this growing humanist attach-
sixteenth-century Flemish work, the iconographical links to the art ofJan van ment to St Jerome, see also E. MALE: L'artreligieuxdelafin dumoyen-ageenFrance,
Eyck and his successors, both Flemish and Italian, are so close that it appears (2nd ed.), Paris [1922], pp.164f.
incredible that a nineteenth-century forger could have so successfully situated 7 On the DetroitJeromesee E. PANOFSKY: 'A Letter to St. Jerome: A Note on the
this work within the early development of the theme of St Jerome in the study, Relationship between Petrus Christus and Jan van Eyck', Studiesin Art and
long before twentieth-century studies had analysed it. This author therefore Literaturefor Belle da CostaGreene,ed. D. MINER,Princeton [1954], pp.102ff.; and
considers the DetroitJeromea faithful replica of the lostJeromeby Jan van Eyck E. HALL:'Cardinal Albergati, St. Jerome and the Detroit van Eyck', Art Quar-
which was in the Medici collection in 1492. terly, XXXI [1968], pp.3ff., and 'More About the Detroit Van Eyck: The
4While Antonello's images of Christ and male saints do vary with regard to Astrolabe, the Congress of Arras, and Cardinal Albergati', Art Quarterly,
age, hair colour, degree of baldness, etc., his handling of the the main facial XXXIV [1971], pp.180ff. For the Minneapolis picture, consult E. FAHY: 'A
elements - the eyes and brows, nose, and mouth - is consistent. The eyes are portrait of a Renaissance Cardinal as St. Jerome', MinneapolisInstituteof Arts,
rounder and not as deeply set as in the LondonJerome,the noses are long and Bulletin,59 [1970], 5ff., and for the Darmstadt Cranach and other such flatter-
straight, and-the lips fuller. ing portraits of Albrecht von Brandenburg, see WIND,op. cit., pp.l138ff.
28
which show the sitter in the guise of some admired saint,8 St earliest disguised portraits, and, as Hall has pointed out, was
Jerome remaining one of the most popular. It is well probably in Italy by the later 1430s, a good fifty-five years
documented that Alfonso shared the two qualities particularly before its inclusion in the Medici inventory of 1492.13
associated with Jerome: scholarship and piety. Alfonso held We may never know whether it was Alfonso himself who
scholarship in high esteem. He used the image of an open book commissioned such a daring portrait in the years just preced-
as one of his imprese,as can be seen on the obverse of a medal ing his death, or whether some member of his court so hon-
executed by Pisanello in 1448-49, on Alfonso's Triumphal oured him, possibly just after his death in 1458. In either case,
Arch and on floor tiles at the Castelnuovo in Naples.9 His the proposed identification of the St Jeromein his Study as a
library, housed in a room overlooking the Bay of Naples, was disguised portrait of Alfonso, if accepted, clearly ties the work
justly famed in Europe.10He granted a charter to the Univer- to the Neapolitan years of Antonello's early career.
sity of Barcelona in 1450, and together with Pope Eugenius IV
founded the University of Catania in 1444. In Naples itself he
13 HALL: 'Cardinal Albergati, St. Jerome and the Detroit Van Eyck', Sup. cit.,
founded a school of Greek; he sent promising youths to the
pp.27f., suggests that the tiny panel passed at the death of Albergati in 1443 to
University of Paris; and he himself attended lectures on theol- his secretary, Tommaso Parentucelli (the future Pope Nicolas V), and upon
ogy at the University of Naples. As is well-documented, his his death in 1455 to Cosimo de' Medici, his close friend in Florence.
court at Naples was exceptional in Italy at this time, including
among noteworthy scholars Lorenzo Valla, Antonio Beccadelli
(called il Panormita), Giovanni Pontano, and Bartolomeo
Fazio.
Alfonso's piety also was well-known in the fifteenth century.
Vespasiano da Bisticci, writing biographies of illustrious men
while at the court in Urbino between 1482 and 1498, describes
with admiration Alfonso's religious life." Panormita, Giambolognadocumentsin thecorrespondence
Alfonso's own biographer, records Alfonso's daily regimen,
which included rising at daybreak to say the Hours in his files of Duke VincenzoGonzagain the
chamber and attending four masses. He also tells us that Mantua State Archives
Alfonso knew the Bible well, having read it fourteen times, and
that when Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, he attemp-
BY CLIFFORD M. BROWN
ted to organise a Crusade to recover the Holy Lands.12 While
it would have been flattering to Alfonso to use his features to
depict any saint, we can see that the choice of the pious scholar In memoryof Milton Lewine*
Jerome was particularly appropriate.
Did the art of Jan van Eyck inspire Antonello to execute a
disguised portrait? Regrettably, we do not know that the VINCENZOGonzaga's marriage to Eleonora de'Medici served
Jerome figure in the LomelliniTriptychwas such a portrait. It is to enhance both the political as well as the commercial ties and
notable, however, that the Detroit StJeromeincluded one of the the artistic links between Florence and Mantua. Vincenzo's
appetite for luxury items, for works of art, and Eleonora's own
8 Petrus not inconsiderable needs have been amply documented in the
Christus, an artist conversant with the art ofJan van Eyck, may have
done two such disguised portraits, but both are disputed: The Portraitof a writings of A. Bertolotti and A. Luzio both as regards the
Carthusianof 1446 and the St Eloy of 1449 (both Metropolitan Museum of Art, services rendered the court by Jacopo Ligozzi and also by
New York). Neither halo may be original, and in the case of the latter, not all Giovanni Bologna.' On 31st August 1593 Ligozzi wrote to
accept that the figure is a portrait. Other works which may portray the sitter in advise the Duke that he had dispatched the 'tredesegnidi lam-
the guise of a saint or exalted personage include: Roger van der Weyden's St pade', and that the 'ritrattide Santi. . . conel quadrodi Lot' were
Ivo (National Gallery, London) and his Isabella as the Persian Sibyl (Rockefeller likewise on route to Mantua.2 The very same day the grand
Collection, New York); School of Provence, St Jerome in Prayer, c. 1460 (Louvre, Duke Ferdinando de'Medici petitioned Vincenzo to give audi-
Paris); Master of the St Ursula Legend, Portraitof a Donor,c. 1470-90 (Johnson ence to Giambologna who hoped to stop off in Mantua, to
Collection, Philadelphia); Avignon School, St Dionysus the Areopagite, c. 1500- 'vedercosenotabili',on his way back to Flanders (Document 7).
1510 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam); and a number of works by Lucas Cranach,
Hans Cranach and their shops of the Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg If he did so, if the Grand Duke's sculptor actually toured the
depicted as St Jerome or St Erasmus (see WIND,op. cit., on these). The theme Ducal Palace and studied the other attractions of the realm, no
also occurs in Italian painting, most clearly as bust-length portraits of sitters record of this has been preserved; the volume of the Ufficiodelle
as saints: Giovanni Bellini's Portrait of Fra Theodoreof Urbino as St Dominic (?), Bollette for 1593 lacks the section dealing with the names of
1515 (National Gallery, London); Bartolomeo Montagna, Portraitof a Woman those who entered and left the city in that year. The internal
as Stjustina of Padua,c. 1510-1520 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York);
correspondence Da Mantovae Paesedello Stato is equally unil-
Vincenzo Catena's Portrait of a Woman as Mary Magdalen (Kaiser Friedrich-
Museum, Berlin); and Correggio's two different images of a Cardinal as St luminating on this point.
As it stands, Ferdinando's letter nonetheless documents
Jerome (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Minneapolis, see note 7
above). Of course, the features of many personages in the fifteenth and six- Giambologna's interest in and his knowledge of Mantua as
teenth centuries can be found within religious narratives or on standing saints well as the fact that he then enjoyed some level of Gonzaga
in altar-pieces, but the images listed above focus on the sitter being portrayed. patronage. That this patronage and friendship was of some
9 See G. HILL:A
Corpus of Italian Medals of the Renaissance before Cellini, London years' standing is known from five items in Vincenzo Gon-
[1930], no.41; G. HERSEY: The Aragonese Arch at Naples: 1443-1475, New Haven zaga's correspondence files that were published by Bertolotti.
[1973], Figs.47, 57, and 60; and on the floor tiles see R. FILANGIERI: 'Rassegna
critica delle fonti per la storia di Castel Nuovo', Archivio storico per le provincie
napoletane, 62 [1937], pp.31 If. While it is not uncommon to show Jerome with *Professor Milton Lewine's death brought sorrow both to his former and
an open book, it may be that the book here is a reference specifically to present students as well as to the art-historical community in general. For
Alfonso. myself, I gratefully acknowledge the combination of methodological structure
1o On Alfonso's library, see T. DE MARINIS:La biblioteca napoletana dei re and imagination he imparted to those fortunate enough to have studied with
d'Aragona, 4 Vols., Milan [1947-52]. On Alfonso's court in general, see A. him.
RYDER: The Kingdom of Naples Under Alfonso the Magnanimous, Oxford [ 1976], and
E. PONTIERI: Alfonso il Magnanimo re di
Napoli (1435-1458). Naples [1975]. SA. BERTOLOTTrrI:'Artisti in relazione coi Gonzaga', Atti e memorie della
11 In VESPASIANO DA BISTICCI: Vite di uomini illustri del secolo XV, ed. P. D'ANCONA Deputazione di Storia Patria per le provincie Modenesi e Parmesi [1885] (reprinted by
and E. AESCHLIMANN, Milan [1951], pp.48-69. Forni, Bologna [1967], pp.171-77); A. BERTOLOTTI: Figuli, Fonditori e Scultori in
12 RYDER, op. cit.,p.27, note 4. See RYDER, relazione con la Corte di Mantova, Milan [1890], pp.95-6; A. LUZIO: La Galleria dei
op. cit., pp.27ff. for many examples of
Alfonso's pious nature, most of which are cited from A. BECCADELLI: De dictis et Gonzaga, Turin [1913], pp.252-72.
2 BERTOLOTTI: 'Antisi . . .', sup. cit. p.175.
factis Alphonsi regis, Basel [1538].
29