Neapolitan School Saint Jerome Hears the Trumpet of Judgment Measurements: Frame cm W 80 x H 103 x D 5, canvas cm W 64 x H 87 Price: Confidential negotiation Item accompanied by a certificate of authenticity The valuable painting, executed in oil on canvas, depicts Saint Jerome hearing the trumpet of the angel of the Last Judgment. The traditional iconography with which Saint Jerome is represented is confirmed here by the usual symbols of his meditation: with his right hand he supports a skull, while in the foreground one sees a book bound with a leather cover. The saint is also usually described as a hermit, seminude, covered with a red cloak, hoary and with a long white beard. There are some iconographies of Saint Jerome linked to episodes of his life. Among these, very common is the depiction of the saint in the desert, in meditation or intent on studying. The book is one of the iconographic attributes and alludes to the numerous exegetical writings and to Jerome's Vulgate. The skull is a symbol of Vanitas, that is, of the transience of human life and meditation on death. The red cardinal's cloak is an element of recognition according to the erroneous interpretation, widespread in the Middle Ages and taken up in the Golden Legend, which believed him to be a cardinal: Jerome, to be the secretary of Pope Damasus, should have been a cardinal and so appeared, in his iconography, the cardinal's habit, or a reference to it, and sometimes the red hat. The painting object of this study depicts a precise moment in the life of the saint, that is when Jerome, retired in meditation in the desert, tells of having heard the announcement of the Last Judgment hearing an angel play a trumpet. In addition to the right, in fact, it is possible to see the bell of the angelic musical instrument and, at the same time, the saint figure perform a twist, raising his left hand upwards. The trumpet with which the angel of the Apocalypse announces the Judgment leads the saint toward a reflection on death and on the moment of reunion with God. Saint Jerome, born Sofronio Eusebio Girolamo (Stridone ca. 347 - Bethlehem, 420), declared Doctor of the Church by Pius V in 1576, was born in Dalmatia, in today's Croatia, and was a man of great literary culture. He completed his studies of grammar and rhetoric in Rome and was baptized here. He went to Antioch and embraced the ascetic life living as a hermit in the desert of Chalcis, south of Aleppo (cf. Ep. 14.10), to devote himself to the studies of biblical exegesis and the Greek and Hebrew languages. Having become a priest on the condition that he maintain his independence as a monk, he began an intense literary activity. In 382 he moved to Rome; he became secretary and advisor to Pope Damasus, who encouraged him for his literary preparation and vast erudition to undertake a new Latin translation of the biblical texts. On the basis of the original texts in Greek and Hebrew Jerome carried out the Latin translation of the four Gospels, then of the Psalter and of most of the protocanonical texts of the Old Testament. His work constitutes the so-called "Vulgate", the canonical text of the Latin Church, recognized by the Council of Trent. After the death of Pope Damasus, Jerome left Rome in 385 and undertook a pilgrimage, first to the Holy Land, then to Egypt and in 386 he stopped in Bethlehem where he remained until his death. He continued to carry out an intense activity: he had monasteries and hospices built and protracted the teaching of classical and Christian culture. He is the patron saint of scholars, archaeologists, librarians, students and translators; the Roman martyrology remembers him on September 30. Stylistically, the painting must be attributed to the Neapolitan area, the work of a painter active in the 17th century. Historical-artistic studies are currently underway.