Willem Key
, Flemish, c.1515-1568
Title
Saint JeromeDate1550-1568
MediumOil on oak panel
Dimensions
147.5 x 108 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 1886
Object numberNGI.277
DescriptionProbably trained by Pieter Coecke van Aelst in Antwerp and Lambert Lombard in Liège, Key was one of the leading artists of mid-sixteenth-century Antwerp. The Florentine writer Lodovico Guicciardini described Key in his Description of the Low Countries (1567) as a painter of history subjects. Only a few of these works have survived, one of them being St Jerome. One of the four Fathers of the Church, Jerome can be identified by his proximity to the lion, which stayed with him after the saint had removed a thorn from its claw. The skull next to Jerome’s left foot also appears in many depictions of the saint. He is usually depicted as a hermit repenting for his sins by using a rock to beat his chest. This painting depicts the saint as a Doctor of the Church, absorbed in his writing. Key’s limited use of warm colours, the classical architecture, the saint’s muscular body, the dynamic sense of movement and the pyramidal composition are all reminiscent of paintings originating from the Italian town of Brescia. Tthe meticulous execution of textures, surfaces and details, however, recalls the works of Netherlandish artists.
Label TextWillem Key was one of the leading artists of mid-sixteenth-century Antwerp. Only few of his paintings with biblical subjects have survived, one of them being Saint Jerome. One of the four Fathers of the Church, Jerome can be identified by the inclusion of the lion, which stayed with him after he removed a thorn from its claw. The skull, next to his left foot, also appears in many depictions of the saint. Jerome is usually portrayed as a hermit, repenting his sins by beating his chest with a rock. This painting, however, depicts the saint as a doctor of the Church, absorbed in his writing.