St.Jerome (c.1642) LeNain Brothers. The Catholic church celebrates September 30th as the feast day of St. Jerome, priest and Doctor of the Church. St. Jerome was a 4th-century priest, theologian, and Doctor of the Church, best known for his translation of the Bible into Latin, known as the Vulgate. Born around 347 in Stridon (in present-day Croatia or Slovenia), he was a passionate scholar with a deep knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Jerome lived a life of asceticism and spent years in the desert, dedicating himself to study and prayer.

The LeNain Brothers have created a typical counter-reformation depiction of St. Jerome in a cave, studying at a makeshift table with the skull and cross behind him, representing his contemplation of his own mortality and Christ’s death on the cross. However, outside of the cave, it does not look like the desert it looks more like the French countryside that the LeNain brothers loved to feature in their popular peasant paintings