17th century

With a long beard and curling locks, a slightly disheveled Saint Jerome listens open-mouthed in astonishment as an angel overhead sounds its trumpet. Vicente Carducho drew Jerome interrupted in the act of writing, with his faithful friend and attribute the lion by his side.

Artists often showed Jerome writing, undoubtedly a common activity for the learned saint who translated the Bible into Latin. Jerome commonly appeared nearly nude, giving artists the opportunity to display his gaunt, ascetic figure. Carducho suggested the saint's lean, muscular body with brown wash and white gouache, using while radiating strokes of black chalk to describe the drapery, which nearly merges with the rocks. The artist reworked the saint's right leg several times, positioning it first forward and then further back until it rested underneath his left knee. The black chalk squaring on this drawing implies that Carducho intended this drawing as a preparatory study for a large painting, although scholars have not identified such a work.

This somber, haunting image of the ascetic Saint Francis typifies the work of one of Spain’s most important Golden Age painters. As is characteristic, Zurbarán depicted the saint alone, in a dark, featureless space, and lit his humble, homespun monk’s robe with dramatic, raking light that also catches on the upturned skull he holds as well as his left foot, which seems to stride into the viewer’s space. Saint Francis was of particular significance to Spain’s monastic communities, which were deeply impacted by the Counter-Reformation. This work was commissioned for Don Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, who was a high-ranking nobleman, close advisor of King Philip IV, and ultimately Prime Minister of Spain (1621–1643).