Saint Jerome in the case
Saint Jerome in the case is a copper engraving by Albrecht Dürer from 1514. With the works Ritter, Tod und Teufel (1513) and Melencolia I (1514), the engraving is one of Dürer's three “master engravings” because of its perfection.
This engraving (244 × 186 mm) is characterized by a large number of symbols that can be interpreted iconographically. First about the title: "Housing" is an outdated word for house or room, chamber or study. Books, writing tools and hourglass are typical items of equipment in a so-called “studiolo”.
Image content and symbolism
Saint Jerome sits quite far in the background at a desk and works. The table is a cheek table typical of the Renaissance . A calvary cross stands in one corner of the table . If you draw a line from the head of Jerome over the cross, the viewer's gaze is directed to the skull next to the window and thus these two objects - death and resurrection - are brought into connection. A burned candle on the shelf indicates the end of life, as does the hourglass, which reminds of the passing of time. The Father of the Church does not dedicate himself to the work of Holy Scripture ( Bible ), which speaks of Adam disobeying God and thus bringing death to the "second Adam", namely Christ, who through the resurrection conquered death and eternal life promises. The question remains open to the viewer whether he accepts this act of redemption. It is more about the portrayal of his work as a letter writer, who was one of the most widely read writings in the late Middle Ages.
In the foreground are a lion , traditionally part of the iconography of St. Jerome, and a slumbering dog . Both are part of the stories of Hieronymus handed down through the Legenda aurea . This also includes the legend of the penitent Hieronymus, who suggests the skull of Adam under the hill of Golgotha in the Holy Land.
The attention to detail and fine workmanship are remarkable, which is typical of the Nordic Renaissance and Dürer. The picture is full of small objects that catch the beholder's gaze and allude to episodes from the life of the saint, such as the pumpkin hanging from the ceiling, which stands for a theological dispute with the church father Augustine, where it is in the translation of the Bible from Hebrew into Greek (pumpkin or ivy?) Disagree.
That is why he is writing a letter to them here to clarify his point of view.
interpretation
According to a common interpretation, there is a substantive connection between the three master engravings, namely as a scholastic classification of virtues in moral, theological and intellectual terms.
Three different ways of life can also be interpreted. For the theologian Hieronymus, the vita contemplativa , which the monks practice through their study and meditation, in order to gain wisdom. Panofsky also saw in them a counterpart (pair of opposites) to the peaceful happiness of the scholarship of God and the constant restlessness of creative people.
literature
- Ulrich Kuder: Dürer's “Hieronymus in the Case” . The saint in the light. Hamburg: Kovac 2013. (Writings on art history. 42.) ISBN 978-3-8300-3091-1
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Wolfgang Liebenwein: Studiolo . Berlin 1977.
- ↑ Jacobus de Voragine: Legenda aurea . Translated by Richard Benz. Heidelberg 1925.
- ↑ Adolf Weis: "This ridiculous pumpkin question". Christian humanism in Dürer's image of Jerome . In: Journal for Art History . tape 45 , 1982, pp. 195-201 .
- ↑ Friedrich Lippmann: The copper engraving . Berlin 1893, p. 51 .
- ^ Erwin Panofsky: Albrecht Dürer . 3. Edition. tape 1 . Princeton 1948, p. 156 .