Welcome to “Art, Culture & Books” with me Anthony King. Today I’ll be taking you on a photographic tour of ‘St. Jerome as a Hermit and Penitent’ from Strasbourg, perhaps by Veit Wagner at the Bode Museum in Berlin, Germany. The art was made around 1500-1510 in linden wood.
As always, I take all the photos and videos myself on location, ensuring you get an up-close and personal view of the fascinating world of art and culture. I’ll be popping in and out with commentary as this video progresses but for now let’s take a close up look.
Active in Strasbourg from 1495 until his death around 1517, Veit Wagner was a German sculptor renowned for numerous wooden carvings attributed to him. While certainty regarding authorship remains elusive, prevailing belief attributes this work, among others, to Wagner.
Jerome, also known as Jerome of Stridon, lived from around year 342–347 to 420. He served as an early Christian priest, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian, and is revered as Saint Jerome. Born in Stridon, the precise location of which remains unknown, speculations place it in either modern Croatia or Slovenia. Previous videos on the channel delve into Dalmatia, the approximate area, featuring notable sites such as Emperor Diocletian’s birth town and his Palace in Split, which still stands.
Jerome’s legacy centres on his Latin translation of the Bible and his comprehensive commentaries on the entire Bible. Ranking as the second-most prolific writer in ancient Latin Christianity after Augustine of Hippo (354–430), Jerome holds the Catholic Church’s recognition as the patron saint of translators, librarians, and encyclopedists.
He is often depicted with a lion, a nod to tales of Jerome taming a lion in the wilderness by healing its paw. We can certainly see a very cute Lion in this carving! Notable artworks featuring Jerome include Leonardo da Vinci’s “Saint Jerome in the Wilderness” at the Vatican Museums and copper engravings by Albrecht Dürer.
In 375, Jerome embarked on a two-year quest for inner peace as a hermit in the desert, a period reflected in the portrayal found in this carving.
By Anthony King (c)