Cesare da Sesto (attr.)
St. Jerome in penance
Oil painting on canvas
153 x 114 cm
Private collection
On a turf punctuated by small tufts of weeds, penitent Saint Jerome holds in his right hand the instrument of his own corporal scourging, the stone, to stop in ecstatic adoration in front of a crucifix. The martyred body of Christ appears carnal as much as that of the saint and stands out against the red of the cardinal's mantle which reveals the sacred texts of the Vulgate, traditional iconographic attributes of Jerome. The scene, strongly suggestive and bathed in warm light, stands out in the foreground, delimited by a ridge of dark rock which also closes the space to a row of trees. In contrast, on the right, the features of a landscape unfold between the second and third floors, in a series of Nordic-style architectures bordered by an orderly and shady countryside, crossed by a stream near which two wayfarers can be seen and, a little further on, a lion; view still delimited, in the distance, by a rocky chain in bluish tones. The painting, unknown to the scholars and therefore unpublished, establishes a profound dialogue with a panel by Cesare da Sesto, of an identical subject, preserved in the National Museum of Stockholm which critics place between the end of 1515 and 1517 and therefore at the time of the painter's return to Milan after his first stay in central-southern Italy (Rome, Messina and Naples). The bright hues of the flesh, the sculptural features of the anatomies and the chromatic virtuosity of the vegetation of the Swedish work, already related to a study for San Gerolamo in Windsor (inv. 064), update us on the terms of the cultural suture operated by Cesare da Sesto, halfway between the recollections of a Leonardo schooling and a maturity forged under the blows of a more modern spatial layout and narrative conception, evidently explainable through the knowledge of the renewed precepts figurative imposed by the Roman yards of Raphael and Michelangelo. However, what is missing in the Swedish table, reduced, is the fine finishing of the rocky ridge, as well as the landscape solution with a suggestive scenic impact and with miniaturistic precision details, otherwise present in the specimen on display and probably attributable to the influence of Bernazzano, colleague and collaborator of Cesare da Sesto. These precious details, in addition to allowing us to know the original and integral iconographic formulation of the Scandinavian painting, to be considered a prototype, lead us to see in the work exhibited here the fruit of a deeper meditation on the theme, placing itself, compared to its first formulation, at a albeit short but significant chronological distance.
Bibliography
• A. Perissa Torrini, A hypothesis for a «large cona» by Cesare da Sesto for San Michele Arcangelo in Baiano, in «Prospettiva», 22, Milan, 1980, pp. 77, 78, 85;
• P. Leone de Castris e P. Giusti, in «Forastieri e regnicoli». La pittura moderna a Napoli nel primo Cinquecento, Napoli, 1985, pp. 144, 169;
• M. Carminati, Cesare da Sesto: a little-known cycle of frescoes and a review, in «Arte Cristiana», 1989, pp. 360, 365 note 53;
• M. Carminati, Cesare da Sesto, 1477 - 1523, Milan, pp. 104; 181, 182
Nicola Barbatelli
On a turf marked by small tufts of grass, Saint Jerome penitent holds in his right hand the instrument of his bodily scourging, the stone, to stop in ecstatic adoration before a crucifix. The martyred body of Christ appears as carnal as that of the saint and stands out on the red of the cardinal’s mantle that allows a glimpse of the sacred texts of the Vulgate [the Latin translation of the Bible, work of Saint Jerome himself], traditional iconographic attributes of Jerome. The scene, strongly suggestive and bathed in warm light, stands out in the foreground, delimited by a ridge of dark rock that closes the space even to a row of trees. In contrast, on the right, a landscape opens up that winds, between the second and the third plane, in a series of architectures of northern taste lined with a tidy and shady countryside, crossed by a watercourse near which two wayfarers can be seen and, a little further on, a lion; view delimited still, in the distance, by a rocky chain with blue tones. The painting, unknown to the studies and therefore unpublished, stands in deep dialogue with a panel of Caesar da Sesto, of identical subject, kept at the National Museum of Stockholm, which the critics place between the end of 1515 and 1517 and therefore at the time of the painter’s return to Milano after his first stay in central-southern Italy (Roma, Messina and Napoli). The bright colours of the complexions, the sculptural features of the anatomies and the chromatic virtuosity of the Swedish work’s vegetation, already related to a study for Saint Jerome in Windsor (inv. 064), update us on the terms of the cultural junction operated by Cesare da Sesto, halfway between the remembrances of Leonardo’s schooling and a maturity forged under the blows of a more modern spatial layout and narrative conception, evidently explainable by the knowledge of the renewed figurative precepts imposed by the Roman workplaces of Raphael and Michelangelo. However, missing in the shortened Swedish wooden panel, is the valuable finish of the rocky ridge, as well as the landscape solution of suggestive scenic impact and with details of miniature precision, otherwise present in the specimen on display and probably attributable to the influence of Cesare da Sesto’s colleague and collaborator, Bernazzano. These valuable details, besides allowing us to know the original and integral iconographic formulation of the Scandinavian painting, to be considered a prototype, lead us to see in the work here on display the fruit of a deeper meditation around the theme, placing itself, compared to its first formulation, at a short though significant chronological distance.
Bibliography
• A. Perissa Torrini, A hypothesis for a «large cona» by Cesare da Sesto for San Michele Arcangelo in Baiano, in «Prospettiva», 22, Milan, 1980, pp. 77, 78, 85;
• P. Leone de Castris and P. Giusti, in "Forastieri e regnicoli". La pittura moderna a Napoli nel primo Cinquecento, Napoli, 1985, pp. 144, 169;
• Marco Carminati, Cesare da Sesto: a little-known cycle of frescoes and a review, in «Arte Cristiana», 1989, pp. 360, 365 note 53;
• M. Carminati, Cesare da Sesto, 1477 - 1523, Milan, pp. 104; 181, 182
Nicola Barbatelli