Lot 1542 Dα

The present painting is an impressive example of realism in 17th century Neapolitan painting in the tradition of Ribera. Nicola Spinosa has attributed it to Bartolomeo Passante and compares it above all with the latter's signed depiction of St. Procopius in the Museo Nazionale in Matera. The flower still life, on the other hand, is by one of Naples' earliest still life painters: "certamente di mano di uno dei primi pittori di natura morta a Napoli, Giacomo Recco". He was the father of Giuseppe Recco, who was also to specialise in still life.
Spinosa dates our depiction of St. Jerome to the period between 1640 and 1645. In the open book, the saint refers to a quotation from the Book of Job (chap. 14, verse 2): "quasi flos egreditur et conteritur" (to be understood: rises like a flower and falls off). On the one hand, this reinforces the vanitas idea already given by the skull and, on the other, finds its pictorial illustration in the flowering branch in the saint's right hand.