Venetian painter, 15th-16th centuries
SAINT JEROME
oil on canvas, 80x120 cm
signed "opus bartolomei / montagna"
Pittore veneto, secc. XV-XVI
SAN GIROLAMO
olio su tela, cm 80x120
firmato "opus bartolomei / montagna"
Provenance
- Roma, Marchesa G. Cavalcabò Collection;
- Roma, Cherubini-Menchetti Collection.
Phopographic References
- Bologna, Fototeca di Federico Zeri, file n. 20787.
The painting depicts Saint Jerome in meditation, according to an iconography that was not widely used in Venetian painting between the late 15th century and the early decades of the 16th century. The compositional structure, the landscape in the background, and the austere rendering of the figure point to the Vicenza-based figurative tradition centered around Bartolomeo Montagna (c. 1450–1523), though they do not permit a direct attribution to the master.
The signature “Opus Bartolomei Montagna,” which is believed to date from a later period, cannot be considered conclusive evidence of the work’s authorship. Rather, the work appears to be the work of a Venetian artist active within the Montagna tradition, characterized by a style still influenced by the Mantegna school, tempered by a softer chromatic sensibility of Venetian origin.
The painting, cataloged by Federico Zeri as an autograph, comes from two Roman collections from the first half of the 20th century: first that of the Marquise Cavalcabò and then that of the Cherubini-Menchetti family.