Circle of Giuseppe Mazzuoli, known as il Bastarolo (Ferrara 1536 - 1589)
Saint Jerome in penitence in the grotto
Oil on copper - 23 x 18 cm. - framed 28 x 24 cm.
Notes: On the back of the copper plate, a seal impressed in sealing wax with the monogram MM
Complete details of the artwork: https://www.antichitacastelbarco.it/it/prodotto/scuola-ferrarese-della-fine-del-cinquecento-san-girolamo
This representation of Saint Jerome in penitence, still in the sixteenth-century style, due to its coloristic evidence and plastic treatment of the figurative dimension, can be placed within the sphere of a Ferrarese artist active at the end of the 16th century. The Saint is portrayed in half-figure with his typical iconographic attributes: the crucifix to which he directs his adoration, the skull, a symbol of penance on his left hand resting on a closed book, and finally the stone he holds with his right hand.
Pictured in three-quarter view, half-bust, with a beard and long hair, Saint Jerome occupies the space in the foreground, particularly evoking the period of hardship and solitude spent in the desert. The long and disheveled hair, the gaze that turns downwards, restore the sense of icon of faith that ignites religious devotion and invites spiritual reflection and repentance.
The stylistic characteristics of our copper plate would lead us to circumscribe the paternity to an author in the circle of Giuseppe Mazzuoli, known as il Bastarolo (Ferrara 1536 - 1589), whose pictorial lexicon is in fact based on the Ferrarese figurative tradition, from which the gaudy and bright chromatism and the intense naturalism derive, and on the knowledge of Emilian and Venetian painting.
It should be considered that with the seventies and eighties the moment of greatest fame of Mazzuoli opens, whose painting presents a progressive orientation towards more simplified compositions, which collect the Counter-Reformation instances of the changed religious climate of Ferrara and therefore the particular needs of the clients.
Such characteristics can be grasped by observing the work under examination, similar to the achievements of the painter's maturity.
Work in excellent condition. Antique frame, not coeval.
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Painting accompanied by a photographic certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law (FIMA)