Saint Jerome

Known today as a prominent and influential painter of the early Renaissance, for centuries Donato de’ Bardi had languished in obscurity until his importance was recognized and brought to light by Federico Zeri. In 1972, Zeri ascribed a triptych in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York to Donato de’ Bardi, on the basis of its affinity with the artist’s remarkable Crucifixion in the Pinacoteca Civica, Savona (figs. 1 and 2 respectively; F. Zeri, in a letter to the Metropolitan Museum, dated 5 April 1972). The Metropolitan Museum triptych had long been mistaken for the work of Donato Bragadin due to its signature, reading OP[V]S DONATI. From there, Zeri went on to reconstruct the artist’s career and among the first works to be grouped together in his 1973 publication was the beautiful, full-length Saint Jerome presented here (loc. cit.). The saint’s features, with a slightly protruding lower lip and mournful eyes, recall those of Saint Andrew in the Metropolitan Museum triptych and the crisp, almost geometric folds of his robe are similar to the treatment of drapery in the Savona Crucifixion.
Born in Pavia (the year of his birth remains unknown), Donato moved to Genoa, where he was active by June 1426, though few documents relating to him survive. Genoa was a thriving commercial center and its harbor sustained strong trading links with France and the Netherlands. It is unsurprising then that Netherlandish paintings would become so influential in the city and indeed Donato became a leading proponent of the Flemish style. His acute observation is evident here in the waving hair of Saint Jerome's beard, the creases of his knuckles and the highlights on the fingernails and cuticles. The greatest care was taken in his treatment of the quill, defining the plumage at its top and the gradation of ink, having soaked up into the nib over time, all minute details that are clearly indebted to Northern painting.