Saint Jerome
c. 1610/1614
Painter, Greek, 1541 - 1614
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 28
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 168 x 110.5 cm (66 1/8 x 43 1/2 in.)
framed: 194.3 x 137.2 x 6.4 cm (76 1/2 x 54 x 2 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1943.7.6
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
El Greco's son, Jorge Manuel Theotocópuli, Toledo, by 1621.[1] possibly in the Convent of San Hermengildo, Madrid, in 1786.[2] Felipe de la Rica of the Montejo family, Madrid, by 1902.[3] Doña Maria de Montejo, Madrid, by 1908.[4] sold after 1926 by the Montejo family to a European art dealer;[5] purchased by (Boehler & Steinmeyer, New York);[6] sold February 1931 to Chester Dale, New York;[7] gift 1943 to NGA.
[1] Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, "De la vida del Greco," Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia 3 (1927): 82, no. 145: "un San Jerónimo desnudo" ("a nude Saint Jerome"). According to this inventory, the painting measured 2 x 1-1/4 varas (approximately 168 x 106 cm). The present painting is not mentioned by name in the inventory made of the artist's estate in 1614; however, since it was in the possession of El Greco's son in 1621, it seems likely that this painting was one of the "quinze quadros bosquejados" ("fifteen paintings sketched in") mentioned in the inventory of 1614. Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, El Greco of Toledo (Madrid, 1910): 195.
[2] The inventory made of the paintings in the convent included a Saint Jerome by El Greco. See El Conde de Polentinos, "El Convento de San Hermengildo, de Madrid," Boletín de la Sociedad Esoabika de Excursiones 41 (1933): 50. According to this inventory, the painting measured "2 varas y media de alto y ancho" ("2-1/2 varas in height and width"). This indicates that the painting was square. However, because the inventory was inaccurate and inconsistent in many places, it is possible that the compilers of the inventory omitted the width and that they intended to refer to the NGA painting, which was 215 cm tall before the added pieces were removed (Peter Murray, letter, 4 May 1964; and Philip Troutman, letter, 28 May 1964; both in the NGA curatorial files). The unfinished state of the painting may account for the relatively low valuation of 600 reales assigned it in the 1786 inventory. For comparison, El Greco's finished portrait of Fray Hortensio Félix Paravicino (now in the MFA, Boston) was valued at 6000 reales in the same inventory.
[3] Salvador Viniegra, Catálogo ilustrado de la exposición de las obras de Domenico Theotocópuli, llamado El Greco [exh. cat.], 1902, 27, no. 43. A 10 April 1931 letter from Boehler & Steinmeyer quoted in the painting's entry in the Chester Dale notebook, NGA curatorial files, says that Rica was a member of the Montejo family.
[4] Manuel B. Cossío, El Greco (Madrid, 1908): 571, no. 113.
[5] August L. Mayer, Domenico Theotocopuli, El Greco. (Munich, 1926): 45, no. 281, repro. 45; 10 April 1931 letter from Boehler & Steinmeyer quoted in the Chester Dale notebook, NGA curatorial files.
[6] 10 April 1931 letter from Boehler & Steinmeyer quoted in the Chester Dale notebook, NGA curatorial files.
[7] 25 February 1931 letter statement of authenticity to Chester Dale from Boehler & Steinmeyer, NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1902
Exposición de las obras de Domenico Theotocópuli, llamado El Greco, Prado, Madrid, 1902, 27, no. 43.
1965
The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.
1982
El Greco of Toledo, The Toledo [Ohio] Museum of Art; Prado, Madrid; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982-1983, 254-255, no. 54, pl. 67 (shown in Washington only).
2014
El Greco in the National Gallery of Art and Washington-Area Collections: A 400th Anniversary Celebration, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2014-2015, no catalogue.
Bibliography
1908
Cossío, Manuel B. El Greco. Madrid, 1908: 366, 571, no. 113, pl. 71. Rev. ed., ed. Natalia Cossío Jímenez. Barcelona, 1972.
1909
Calvert, Albert F., and C. Gasquoine Hartley. El Greco. London, 1909: 153, pl. 58.
1924
Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs, et graveurs. 3 vols. Paris, 1924: 3:882.
1926
Mayer, August L. Dominico Theotocopuli, El Greco. Munich, 1926: 45, no. 281, repro. 45.
1930
Mayer, August L. "Unbekannte Werke des Greco." Pantheon 5 (1930): 183-184, repro. 181.
Rutter, Frank. El Greco. New York, 1930: 90, no. 12.
1931
Mayer, August L. El Greco. Berlin, 1931: 64, fig. 46.
"Fine El Greco Added to Chester Dale Collection." Art News 29 (29 April 1931): 4.
1937
Legendre, Maurice, and Alfred Hartmann. Domenikos Theotokopoulos, Called El Greco. Paris, 1937: 437, repro.
1943
Washington Times-Herald (18 July 1943): C-10.
1945
Cook 1945, 75, fig. 6.
1950
Cámon Aznar, José. Dominico Greco. 2 vols. Madrid, 2:896-897, 1382, no. 516, fig. 698 (also 1970 ed., 2: 898, 900, 1366-1367, no. 518, figs. 759-760).
1956
Walker, John. "The Nation's Newest Old Masters." The National Geographic Magazine 110, no. 5 (November 1956): 634.
1957
Soehner, Halldor. "Greco in Spanien." Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst 8 (1957): 182, 184, 194.
1958
Gaya Nuño, Juan Anotonio. La pintura española fuera de España; historia y catàlogo. Madrid, 1958: 202, no. 1379.
1962
Wethey, Harold E. El Greco and His School. 2 vols. Princeton, 1962: 1:figs. 291, 293; 2:132, 134, no. 249 (also Spanish ed. Madrid, 1967: 1:pls. 268, 270; 2:144, 146, no. 249).
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 309, repro.
1965
Paintings other than French in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 11, repro.
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 62.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 54, repro.
1969
Manzini, Gianna, and Tiziana Frati. L'opera completa del Greco. Milan, 1969: no. 170, color pl. 43.
1972
Cossío, Manuel B. El Greco. Edited by Natalia Cossío de Jímenez. Barcelona, 1972: 384, no. 264.
1973
Gudiol y Ricart, José. Domenikos Theotokopoulos, El Greco. Translated by Kenneth Lyons. New York, 1973: 197-198, 350, no. 153, color fig. 179 (also 1983 ed.: 197-198, 350, no. 153, color fig. 179).
1975
Lafuente Ferrari, Enrique, and José Manuel Pita Andrade. El Greco: The Expressionism of His Final Years. Translated by Robert E. Wolf. New York, 1975: 137-138, 162, no. 146, color pls. 13-14.
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 162, repro.
1976
Davies, David. El Greco. London, 1976: 15, note to pl. 36, color pl. 36.
1980
Friedmann, Herbert. A Bestiary for Saint Jerome. Washington, 1980: 94, 150, 174, 257, fig. 79.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 237, no. 303, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 187, repro.
1990
El Greco of Crete: Exhibition on the Occasion of the 450th Anniversary of his Birth. Exh. cat. Iraklion, 1990: 242, fig. 4, 374.
Brown, Jonathan, and Richard G. Mann. Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1990: 56-60, color repro. 57.
1993
Griswold, Susanna P. "Two Paintings by El Greco: Saint Martin and the Beggar." Studies in the History of Art 41 (1993): 137, repro. no. 10.
2019
Stoenescu, Livia. The Pictorial Art of El Greco: Transmaterialities, Temporalities, and Media. Amsterdam, 2019: 274.
Inscriptions
unidentified inventory number at upper left: 100
Wikidata ID
Q16621961