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A nude man holding a book in one hand and a rock down by his other side kneels at the opening of a rocky cave in this vertical painting. The man’s body and the shadowy cave opening nearly fill the composition. The man’s torso and limbs are elongated and sinewy, and his skin is painted in tones of ivory white and pale peach with smoky gray shadows. His body is squared to us as he turns his long face to look up and off to our left. He has dark brows over deep-set eyes, a prominent nose, hollow cheeks, and his thin lips are closed. He has short white hair and a frost-white beard. His skin pulls tightly over the tendons in his neck, across his collarbone, and over his ladder-like ribcage. He is nude except for a loosely painted, light-colored cloth across his hips. His left arm, to our right, lies along an open book, which rests against his hip or on a rock in the cave. A few touches of red line the hand that grips the rock, which he holds away from his body with his other hand. The craggy face of the cave opening is loosely painted, and the interior is swallowed in complete darkness. The man raises his face toward rays of canary yellow and cotton white against a turquoise-blue sky in the upper left corner of the canvas.

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos)

Saint Jerome, c. 1610/1614

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 28

Medium

oil on canvas

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.)

Credit Line

Chester Dale Collection

Accession Number

1943.7.6

Artists / Makers

El Greco (painter) Greek, 1541 - 1614

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

unidentified inventory number at upper left: 100

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

Anonymous Art Dealer
Böhler, Julius
Dale, Chester
Montejo, Maria de, Doña
Rica, Felipe de la
San Hermengildo, Convent of
Theotocópuli, Jorge Manuel

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.

Technical Summary

The support is a heavy, plain-weave fabric, probably linen, lined to a moderately heavy plain-weave fabric. In 1929 pieces added by a later artist at the top, the bottom, and the right side were removed.[1] El Greco utilized a reddish-brown imprimatura. Oil paint was applied in moderately thick paste with brush strokes of low to moderate relief. There are significant losses of original paint on the saint's right thigh, the background to the left of the thigh, and in the sky at the upper left; smaller losses of paint are scattered throughout. The painting was cleaned and restored in 1988/1989. Discolored varnish and old repaint which concealed much of the brushwork on the torso and such details as the crucifix at the upper right were removed.

[1] The restoration is discussed briefly by Mayer 1930, 183. The additions included a trumpet at the top and landscape at the bottom and right. With the additions, the painting measured 215 x 120 (Cossío, 571, no. 113). For an illustration of the painting before the additions were removed, see (Cossío 1908, pl. 71. It is widely agreed that the added pieces were not by El Greco (see, for example, Mayer 1926, 45, no. 281; Wethey 1962, 2:133, no. 249).

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.

1930: Rutter, Frank. El Greco. New York, 1930: 90, no. 12.

1931: "Fine El Greco Added to Chester Dale Collection." Art News 29 (29 April 1931): 4.

1931: Mayer, August L. El Greco. Berlin, 1931: 64, fig. 46.

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.

1965: 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: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 162, repro.

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.

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: 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.

1990: El Greco of Crete: Exhibition on the Occasion of the 450th Anniversary of his Birth. Exh. cat. Iraklion, 1990: 242, fig. 4, 374.

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.