Caravaggio

[telophase]

Went to the exhibit on Caravaggio and his Followers at the Kimbell this evening. Can someone do my homework for me and tell me why St. Jerome would be depicted with a lion and an open pair of scissors? There was also an open Bible, which makes sense as he translated it into Latin.

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Comments

[trouble]

He extracted a thorn from a lion's paw and it became his faithful companion.

[telophase]

Ah, like Androcles, thanks! (Must have been all sorts of lions running around with thorns in their paws back in the day! XD)

[kore]

Huh, those might not be scissors but a wick-trimmer for the candle -- I think scissors, spectacles, &c are typical scholarly emblems.

[telophase]

Yeah, I'm not sure. I haven't been able to find a copy of the painting online so can't double-check exactly what they looked like.

They were fairly prominent - hanging from a nail in a shelf, right in the light from the window, open and hanging from one loop of the handle - so Mom and I assumed there had to be a specific meaning we were unaware of.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Jerome removed a thorn from the paw of a lion. I'm not sure about the scissors. ~Yours in lapsed ex-Catholicism

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Androcles reborn!

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

St Jerome (almost) always has a lion (and a stone to beat his bare breast) - an allusion to his being a hermit saint in the wilderness (home of the lions.) There was also a legend that Jerome took a thorn from a lion's paw - but that was probably a cross with the Aesop's fable.

The scissors, I'm not as sure about - I don't remember them in Caravaggio's painting of St. J - that's the one with the anamorphic skull in the left corner, right? (The one that looks like weird drapes, until you look from the far left of the canvas and see a skull - another of Jerome's usual attributes?)

Durer created an influential engraving of Jerome well before Caravaggio lived. Durer wanted to show Jerome in a typical study, so he added books, candlesticks, and scissors (to trim wicks or parchment) - along with the lion and skull.

Does that help?

And I'm very jealous of you, setting the Caravaggio exhibit. We mourned the fact that Jerome was out of town, when we were in Rome last month!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

The scissors were fairly prominent - hanging from a nail in a shelf, right in the light from the window, open and hanging from one loop of the handle - so Mom and I assumed there had to be a specific meaning we were unaware of, but haven't been able to find one.

I almost didn't remember the exhibit - it was 5:30 PM on Friday when I remembered it and proposed the idea to Mom. THe museum's open late on Fridays, until 8, so we had the exact amount of time we needed to get there, get into the exhibit, and wander around before the closing bell sounded (and at half price, even!). It's here until January, so I'm going to try to go back as I love Caravaggio.

[riofriotex.livejournal.com]

Apparently scissors are "symbolic of the interpretation of the Scriptures by the Doctors of the Church." which St. Jerome is one of. Source is The Art Bulletin, 1959, via JSTOR

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Ah, interesting! Thank you!

St. Jerome would be depicted with a lion*

[mustangsally78.livejournal.com]

I think he's also tangentially one of the patron saints of cat ladies - since they're always underfoot while we're doing something else.

Kidding.

* No it's because of the thorn/paw - one of the few things I recall from Art History. And I think the scissors are something to do with scholasticism. Don't know why. Cutting and pasting?

Re: St. Jerome would be depicted with a lion*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I believe it!