Hermit Saints Triptych. The Hermit Saints is an oil on panel triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, dating from around 1493.
It measures 86 x 60 cm. It is housed at the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. The triptych is mentioned at the Palazzo Ducale in 1771, as hanging in the Eccelso Tribunale Hall.
In 1838 it was removed by the Austrian authorities, then ruling Venice, to the Imperial Gallery of Vienna in Austria, from which, in 1893, it went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. In 1919 it was returned to Venice.
The work has been badly damaged, perhaps by a fire: in particular in the central part, the sky, the landscape and the head of St. Jerome have been repainted. The date of 1493 has been confirmed by dendochronologic analysis.
Each of the three panels portrays a different Christian anchorite saint. In the center is Saint Jerome, kneeling in the desert and praying at a crucifix on a stick. The setting is an altar resembling a sculpted Roman sarcophagus, located within a ruined oratory. The reliefs depicts scenes connected to the redemption theme, such as Judith and Holophernes, a knight and a unicorn, symbol of virginity. In the lower part is a man diving into a beehive and covering himself with honey, perhaps an allusion to carnal love or to alchemic mercury. This detail is depicted in a drawing housed in the Albertina in Vienna. All around are symbols of evil, scattered in a desert and dark landscape and s
It measures 86 x 60 cm. It is housed at the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. The triptych is mentioned at the Palazzo Ducale in 1771, as hanging in the Eccelso Tribunale Hall.
In 1838 it was removed by the Austrian authorities, then ruling Venice, to the Imperial Gallery of Vienna in Austria, from which, in 1893, it went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. In 1919 it was returned to Venice.
The work has been badly damaged, perhaps by a fire: in particular in the central part, the sky, the landscape and the head of St. Jerome have been repainted. The date of 1493 has been confirmed by dendochronologic analysis.
Each of the three panels portrays a different Christian anchorite saint. In the center is Saint Jerome, kneeling in the desert and praying at a crucifix on a stick. The setting is an altar resembling a sculpted Roman sarcophagus, located within a ruined oratory. The reliefs depicts scenes connected to the redemption theme, such as Judith and Holophernes, a knight and a unicorn, symbol of virginity. In the lower part is a man diving into a beehive and covering himself with honey, perhaps an allusion to carnal love or to alchemic mercury. This detail is depicted in a drawing housed in the Albertina in Vienna. All around are symbols of evil, scattered in a desert and dark landscape and s
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