Painting

The Hermit or the Holy Hieronymus The lion in the lower right corner of the picture suggests that the man who is reproduced sitting at the table is the Holy Hieronymus (c. 347420), who is usually depicted with just one lion. It is told that when Hieronymus once held the bible moment with his monks, a lion came up to him with pitiful views and with a thorny tag in his paw. Hieronymus pulled out the tag, after which the lion followed him faithfully as a dog for the rest of his life. It was long thought that lions slept with their eyes open and lions have therefore also symbolised vigilance, spiritual attention and strength. Resurrection can also be symbolised with the lion because it was thought that the lion’s boys were born dead and came to life only when the lion’s male breathed on them. The Holy Hieronymus was a very learned and besieged man. He is usually portrayed sitting in his chamber of students surrounded by a book and a skull - attributes associated with teaching, contemplation and perishability. The production of hieronymy was very popular, especially during the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. The explanation for the popularity of the subject is considered to be that Hieronymus was the most learned of all saints and could be identified with the humanistic ideals of the time, where skills and knowledge in a variety of subjects were highly appreciated. As an image type, the Hieronymus representation exerted a decisive influence on the development of another image type, namely the vanitasstille bone; a still life that was an arrangement with things to remind of the perishability of life and the vanities of everything. There is the skull and the book with from the Hieronymus petitions, but also hourglass and brown lights that are also examples of perishable symbols. At a time when war, plague and other casualties were constantly threatened, one was very aware that life was hanging on a scorched thread and an imagery language developed, the content of which was marked by reflection and the gravity of the foundation. “Memento-mori” - forget-not-that-you-is-dead-imagery was a way to remind the viewer of the short earths of man. The author of the painting, the Dutch artist David Teniers d ä (15821649), was Rubens pupil and his influence can often be felt in the pupils pictures. Teniers often painted biblical, historical and mythological accounts. Here he has portrayed Hieronymus with his lion, with the skull and with books, but not in his nursery but as a hermit in something similar to a cave. In the picture, the lion is crowned with bay leaves (most often the skull instead tends to be bay leaf) as a reminder that not even the scholar escapes the perdition. The Angel, the Messenger of God with his Celestial Blue robe, in the upper left corner of the picture, reveals himself to the hermit with his dombasun. The hermit is a symbolic figure for the world discouraged human being, who, through ascetic isolation from the world, can make special visionary gifts and also have a blessing effect on those who ask for advice. The hermit engages others and strives to become alone with God. The Holy Antonius (c. 251356), who founded the Christian hermit, was an Egyptian monk who, at the age of young, gave away his entire inherited fortune to the poor and settled in a burial chamber. There he devoted himself to pious views in total solitude. Instead of with a lion, the sacred Antonuis in art is depicted with a pig - the mind image for the devil’s temptations. Antonius suffered from a series of temptations and is often depicted in a wild battle against demons in various costumes, gladly portrayed by naked women. One of the artist David Tenier’s most common motifs was the temptation of Holy Antony. Looking closely at the picture, it is seen that the cave opening has a door. It is perhaps a burial chamber, in which the Holy Antonius is usually depicted. With the lion playing on Hieronymus along with the burial chamber associating with Antonius, one makes reason to believe that the artist has mixed the two saints' Hieronymus and Antony’s image types in this picture. Carlgren, Maria: Symbols in Dutch and Flemish Painting. From Bohusländer Konst. YEARBOOK 1996. The art at Bohusläns museum. Bohusläns homestead association and Bohusläns museum. Uddevalla 1996.