(Bologna 1576–1622 Parma)
Saint Jerome,
oil on unlined canvas, 99.5 x 150.1 cm, unframed

Indistinctly signed or inscribed on the reverse of the original canvas.

Provenance:
Uberto Strozzi Sacrati collection, Florence;
his sale, Pandolfini, Florence, 3 October 1983, lot 59 (as Emilian School, 17th Century);
sale, Poggio Bracciolini, Florence, 15 November 2016, lot 494 (as Italian School, 18th Century);

Private European collection

Literature:
E. Tartari, Gli Strozzi Sacrati a Ferrara: gli splendori estensi e la raffinatezza fiorentina rivivono nella storia del marchese Massimiliano, Bologna 1997, p. 102 (as Emilian School, 17th Century, ‘The penitent Saint John’);
E. Monducci, E. Negro, M. Pirondini, N. Roio, Leonello Spada (1576-1622), Manerba 2002, pp.123-124, no. 55 (as Leonello Spada);
La “schola” del Caravaggio. Dipinti dalla Collezione Koelliker, ed by G. Papi, exhibition catalogue, Milan 2006, p. 188 (as Leonello Spada)

We are grateful to Emilio Negro and Nicosetta Roio for reconfirming the attribution of the present painting.

The present work was previously part of the prestigious Strozzi Sacrati collection, which was formed in Ferrara during the mid-nineteenth century by the Marquis Massimiliano, and was subsequently transferred to Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, by his heirs. His collection principally consisted of Emilian paintings from the 15th to the 19th century.

Leonello Spada treated this subject on several occasions in differing variations on the theme. In the version that belonged to Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, Spada’s protector, Saint Jerome is shown while he is writing (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini, Rome, inv. no. 2218). In the version conserved in the sacristy of the church of San Domenico in Bologna, the saint is shown reading.

In the present painting the saint is represented in ecstasy. He is shown holding a crucifix, leaning on a simple rush mat, covered only by a blanket; his gaze is turned towards heaven to receive the divine light. The still-life passages are especially prominent, these represent the volumes of the Bible that allude to Saint Jerome’s translation into Latin of the Old and New Testaments, while various items in the background: the saint’s classic attribute, the skull, some quill pens, an extinguished lantern and an hourglass are all rendered with particular attention to detail. The contrast between the dark background and the saint’s body, bathed in light in the foreground, the still-life passages and in the near-foreground, the sole of Jerome’s bare foot turned out towards the viewer, are all evident stylistic references to Caravaggio.

Following a period of formative training in the ambit of the Carracci school in Bologna, in 1610 Lionello Spada travelled to Malta – en route passing through Rome and Naples where he may have met Caravaggio. On arrival he executed frescoes in the Palace of the Grand Master in La Valletta. In the Maltese capital the Bolognese painter was also certainly able to see Caravaggio’s Saint Jerome in the church of San Giovanni dei Cavalieri, which, as in the case of the present painting, influenced much of his later work. On returning to his native city, Spada was involved in projects such as the frescoes in the Chiesa della Ghiara in Reggio Emilia, and for several years he devoted himself to painting Caravaggist themes. Spada received the support of high-ranking prelates including the future Pope Urban VIII, Maffeo Barberini, and Cardinal Alessandro d’Este; from 1618 he entered service in the court of Ranuccio Farnese in Parma.