above. In a picture by Antonio Pereda, at Madrid, St. Jerome not only hears in his vision the sound of the last trump, he sees the dead arise from their graves around him. Lastly, by way of climax, I may mention a picture in the Louvre, by a modern French painter, Sigalon: St. Jerome is in a convulsive fit, and the three angels, blowing their trumpets in his ears, are like furies sent to torment and madden the sinner, rather than to rouse the saint. [Exhibited at Salon, 1831.]

While doing penance in the desert, St. Jerome was sometimes haunted by temptations, as well as amazed by terrors.

4. Domenichino, in one of the frescoes in St. Onofrio [Rome], represents the particular kind of temptation by which the saint was in imagination assailed: while he is fervently praying and beating his breast, a circle of beautiful nymphs, seen in the background, weave a graceful dance. Vasari has had the bad taste to give us a penitent St. Jerome with Venus and Cupids in the background: one arch little Cupid takes aim at him,

an offensive instance of the extent to which, in the sixteenth century, classical ideas had mingled with and depraved Christian Art. (Pitti, Florence.)

5. Guido. "St. Jerome translating the Scriptures while an angel dictates: " life size and very fine (except the angel, who is weak, and reminds one of a water-nymph); in his pale manner. (Lichtenstein Gallery, Vienna.)

6. Domenichino. "St. Jerome is flagellated by an angel for preferring Cicero to the Hebrew writings;" also in the St. Onofrio. The Cicero, torn from his hand, lies at his feet. Here the saint is a young man, and the whole scene is represented as a vision.

7. But St. Jerome was comforted by visions of glory, as well as haunted by terrors and temptations. In the picture by Parmigiano, in our National Gallery, St. Jerome is sleeping in the background, while St. John the Baptist points upwards to a celestial vision of the Virgin and Child, seen in the opening heavens above: the upper part of this picture is beautiful and full of dignity; but the saint is lying stretched on the earth in an attitude so uneasy and distorted that it would seem as if he were condemned to do penance even in his sleep; and the St. John has always appeared to me mannered and theatrical.

bymom

St. Jerome and the Lion. (Coll' Antonio del Fiore.)

8. The story of the lion is often represented. St. Jerome is seated in his cell, attired in the monk's habit and cowl; the lion approaches, and lays his paw upon his knee; a cardinal's hat and books are lying near him; and, to express the selfdenial of the saint, a mouse is peeping into an empty cup. Kugler pronounces this to be a Flemish picture.

In another example, by Vittore Carpaccio, the lion enters the cell, and three monks, attendants on St. Jerome, flee in terror.

9. The Last Communion of St. Jerome is the subject of one of the most celebrated pictures in the world, the St. Jerome of Domenichino, which has been thought worthy of being placed opposite to the Transfiguration of Raphael, in the Vatican. The aged saint feeble, emaciated, dying- is borne in the arms of his disciples to the chapel of his monastery, and placed within the porch. A young priest sustains him; St. Paula, kneeling, kisses one of his thin bony hands; the saint fixes his eager eyes on the countenance of the priest, who is

about to administer the sacrament,

a noble dignified figure in a rich ecclesiastical dress; a deacon holds the cup, and an attendant priest the book and taper; the lion droops his head with an expression of grief; the eyes and attention of all are on the dying saint, while four angels, hovering above, look down upon the scene.

Agostino Caracci, in a grand picture now in the Bologna Gallery, had previously treated the same subject with much. feeling and dramatic power; but here the saint is not so wasted and so feeble, St. Paula is not present, and the lion is tenderly licking his feet.

Older than either, and very beautiful and solemn, is a picture by Vittore Carpaccio, in which the saint is kneeling in the porch of a church, surrounded by his disciples, and the lion is seen outside.

10. "The Death of St. Jerome." In the picture by Starnina he is giving his last instructions to his disciples, and the expression of solemn grief in the old heads around is very fine. In a Spanish picture he is extended on a couch made of hurdles, and expires in the arms of his monks.

In a very fine anonymous print, dated 1614, St. Jerome is dying alone in his cell (this version of the subject is contrary to all authority and precedent): he presses to his bosom the Gospel and the crucifix; the lion looks up in his face roaring, and angels bear away his soul to heaven.

11. "The Obsequies of St. Jerome." In the picture by Vittore Carpaccio, the saint is extended on the ground before the high altar, and the priests around are kneeling in various attitudes of grief or devotion. The lion is seen on one side.1

I will mention here some other pictures in which St. Jerome figures as the principal personage.

St. Jerome introducing Charles V. into Paradise is the subject of a large fresco, by Luca Giordano, on the staircase of the Escurial.

St. Jerome conversing with two nuns, probably intended for St. Paula and St. Marcella.2

The sleep of St. Jerome. He is watched by two angels,

1 The three frescoes by Carpaccio are in the Church of San Giorgio de' Schiavoni at Venice.

2 It was in the Standish Gallery in the Louvre.