Collection Online

St Jerome Curing the Lion
1492
title-page for Epistolare beati Hieronymi, Basel, 2nd edn, 1492

Medium
woodcut

Measurements
19.2 × 13.5 cm (image) 19.5 × 14.0 cm (sheet)

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1956

Gallery location
Not on display

 

About this work

St Jerome curing the lion is the earliest woodcut that is securely attributed to Albrecht Dürer, and dates from his time in Basel. The woodblock, made of soft pearwood and signed by the artist, still exists in the Basel University Library. A founding father of the Roman Catholic Church, St Jerome was the first to translate the Bible into Latin, known as the Vulgate. This is illustrated here with the opening words of Genesis shown in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

Artwork Details

Catalogue/s Raisonné
M.227; Holl.227; K.22; S.W.10; Barlow (1935) 53; T.17; P.414

Inscription
Without monogram

Accession Number
3642.1-4

Departments
International Prints / International Prints and Drawings

This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest