St. Jerome in art

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Obsculta

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Why is it that St. Jerome is often portrayed in paintings as being nearly nude, is this a representation of some ascetic practice?
 
Because he was ripped.

(this is just a header post until somebody makes a knowledgeable post)
 
TK421 said:
Because he was ripped.

(this is just a header post until somebody makes a knowledgeable post)
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😃 um, TK421 why aren’t you at your post?

Seriously. does anyone know? I am aware of certain ‘motifs’ in art history. I know about St. Jerome and the lions paw legend, but no idea why the lack of clothing.
 
Obsculta said:
Why is it that St. Jerome is often portrayed in paintings as being nearly nude, is this a representation of some ascetic practice?
Click to expand...
I think that is because he spent a lot of time in the desert fasting and such while he studied the languages. He was also into ascetic practices. He probably lived as a poor man in the desert so that is probably why you have the less clothing on him in the pictures. Or perhaps it is to show that he was concentrating so hard that he wasn’t always too well dressed 🙂

There is info on his life here

catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=10

The article above states that he practiced a life of austerity. So that might explain his clothing.

Also, there are pictures where he is wearing nice clothing like this one

tihof.org/images/jerome/ghirland.jpg
 
Thank you. Very interesting, especially [Roman clergy] “All their anxiety is about their clothes…”
 
St. Jerome was rather ascetical in his habits. He didn’t like much, obviously didn’t like clothes either. The original Grumpy Cat.
 
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