The theologian St. Jerome (ca. 340-420) is shown meditating on the cross of Christ during his four years of penitence in the Syrian desert when he was in his 30s. However, his great service to the Church was his translation of the Bible, made when he was much older, when he was also said to have tamed a wild lion who became his companion. Artists often combined these compelling images.
Influenced by the strident naturalism of Caravaggio (1571-1610), the unusual, close-up, naturalistic view of the aging body of the saint, and in particular the soles of his dirty feet, call attention to the artist's readiness to shock the viewer in conveying the deprivations of the desert.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Angelo_Caroselli" class="extiw" title="w:en:Angelo Caroselli"><span title="Italian painter (1585-1652)">Angelo Caroselli</span></a>
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between circa 1620 and circa 1630 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1650-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1620-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1630-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Baroque" class="extiw" title="w:en:Baroque"><span title="cultural movement, starting around 1600">Baroque</span></a><div style="display: none;">era QS:P2348,Q37853</div>)
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