A Vanitas or the Three Ages of Man

The iconography of this panel remains somewhat elusive to interpretation and can be read either purely as a vanitas or momento mori, or as a depiction of Saint Jerome. The frequency of the portrayals of the saint in the workshop of Cranach was relatively common, and a number of paintings by the master and his assistants show the saint at various moments of his vita, most often in a state of repentance (like that now in the Kunstsammlungen der Veste, Coburg) or writing in the wilderness (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie). Indeed, though the present composition appears to be somewhat unique in paintings produced by Cranach and his studio, perhaps suggesting that it was a specific commission for a patron and not produced for sale on speculation or the open market, the bearded figure bears a number of strong physiognomic similarities to these other depictions of Saint Jerome. Paintings showing the saint meditating on the brevity of life, seated with a skull before him, abounded in the Netherlands and Germany, with the famous precedent established by Albrecht Dürer during his sojourn in the Netherlands in 1521 (Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga), frequently reproduced and adapted by painters like Joos van Cleve (for example that in Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum), and Marinus van Reymerswaele (Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado). The present vanitas, therefore, can perhaps be seen to follow the same model, using Dürer’s famed example as the basis for its iconography and formal composition.