Lambert van Noort, Lot n° 290

THE HOLY HIERONYMUS PENALTING BEFORE A CROSS in a grotto oil on oak wood. Parquet flooring. 114 x 85 cm. In a splendid Italian aedicular frame with fluted pilasters on the sides and decoratively painted plinth and architrave zone. In classical composition the figure of the saint is shown kneeling to the right in the centre of the picture, backed by a grotto rock which widens upwards and offers views of the landscape on both sides. With bare shoulder he holds a stone in front of his chest, the bearded face looks up to the right. In front of him on the right, on a low stone pedestal, a cross with Corpus Christi, next to it a red book, the cardinal's hat and behind it the lion as an attribute of the saint. The red colour of the book, hat and the draped mantle of the saint in a bright colouring radiating out of itself, which already betrays the influence of mannerism. The two scenic backgrounds on either side are deliberately reproduced at different heights, on the left a hilly landscape with two castles and a hermit chapel at the foot of a mountain, with a winding path in front of it. On the right, on the other hand, a lower-lying terrain with a rural manor house, surrounded by a wall with two gates. These scenic insertions are probably references to details of legends that have not yet been further explored. The painting as a whole in fine execution, of particular note the almost psychologically recorded physiognomy of the saint, with a slightly opened mouth. At the bottom right of the stone base of the cross, in Gothic minuscule, the sitter's name "St Jerome". (1221403) (11) Lambert van Noort, 1520 Amersfoort - 1571 Antwerp, attributed The biographer Karel van Mander (1548-1606) mentioned the painter Lambrecht van Oort. He was accepted as master into the Guild of Saint Luke in 1547, THE PENITENT SAINT JEROME IN FRONT OF A CROSS IN A GROTTO Oil on oak panel. Parquetted. 114 x 85 cm. In magn