Rijksmuseum

Lezende Hieronymus

Date

1634

Medium

paper

Institution

Rijksmuseum

St Jerome once helped a lion by removing a painful thorn from its paw, and is thus often depicted together with the animal. Here the creature looks like a strapping, misshapen cat, undoubtedly because Rembrandt at this point had never seen a real lion. He probably based his representation on (equally awkward) models in 16th-century prints.

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