El Greco (1541–1614)
St. Jerome, 1590–1600
Oil on canvas
43 1/2 x 37 1/2 in. (110.5 x 95.3 cm)
Purchased in 1905
St. Jerome (ca. 342–420), one of the four Doctors of the Western Church, was known for his Latin translation of the Bible, represented here. El Greco depicts him in the robes of a cardinal, and when Henry Clay Frick acquired the work, he mistakenly believed it to be a portrait of Cardinal Gaspar de Quiroga y Vela, Archbishop of Toledo. El Greco and his workshop produced this popular composition at least four times. Another version is in the Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.