The Penitent Saint Jerome / Landscape with a Hunter and Fishermen
Ca. 1550. Oil on panel.Not on display
The Penitent Saint Jerome with a Landscape with a Hunter and Fishermen on its reverse. While the saint completely fills the foreground and barely fits into the pictorial space, on the opposite side we see a bucolic scene from a distance with small-scale figures. There appears to be no symbolic content in the landscape nor any relationship with the front. A man is hunting ducks accompanied by a boy, while two more men proceed along a road. Everything seems everyday and insignificant, which was unusual in the mid-16th century. If we have to find a connection we might point to the similarity between the mountains and the buildings on the two sides. Perhaps the artist wished to show us that while Saint Jerome was undertaking his penance, life of the most tranquil and pleasant type was taking place in the same location.
Blanco, Miguel Ángel (comisario), Reversos, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2023, p.159
