Artwork preview

Saint Jerome Penitent [left panel]

Jan Gossaert

National Gallery of Art

A man hangs on a cross nestled into the splayed opening of a splintered, barren tree in a rocky landscape in this narrow, vertical composition, which is painted entirely in black and gray. The man’s hands are nailed to the ends of the wide crossbeam of the cross, and his overlapping feet are nailed to the vertical beam. He wears a ring of thorns on his head and a loincloth across his hips. A voluminous cloth lies just beyond the tree, and farther back on the angular rocks are a lion and mule. A cliff rises steeply to our left and a body of water to our right leads back to a castle-like structure.

Artwork Details

Date
c. 1509/1512
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
8388 × 29651 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
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