Saint Jerome Penitent in the Wilderness

c. 1496 · Print

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Saint Jerome Penitent in the Wilderness” now? Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 12 days ago
In this state since: Sep 29, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the work

This print shows Albrecht Dürer’s interpretation of Saint Jerome in the wilderness. In this image, the saint is a gaunt

penitent who kneels in front of a small crucifix placed on top of a tree stump (a reference to Christ’s cross and the tree of knowledge), while holding a rock in his right hand. Jerome was said to have beat his chest with a rock to alleviate his frequent hallucinations. Dürer included several different plant species, all Northern European in origin, displaying his

dedication to the careful study and depiction of real plants.

National Gallery of Art

Details

Accession number: 2011.22.1

What it shows

Saints

In the catalog

Prints Engraving Renaissance 15th century German Renaissance Religious art Germany, late 15th Century early 16th Century

Display history

Not on view at present
National Gallery of Art · Sep 29, 2026 — now · Verified
Was not on view
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Sep 29, 2026 — Sep 29, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
National Gallery of Art · Sep 29, 2026 — Sep 29, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Sep 28, 2026 — Sep 29, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
National Gallery of Art · Sep 28, 2026 — Sep 28, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Sep 27, 2026 — Sep 28, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
National Gallery of Art · Sep 27, 2026 — Sep 27, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
Rijksmuseum · Sep 26, 2026 — Sep 27, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
National Gallery of Art · Sep 26, 2026 — Sep 26, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Sep 25, 2026 — Sep 26, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
Rijksmuseum · Aug 30, 2026 — Sep 25, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Aug 19, 2026 — Aug 30, 2026 · Verified

Sources

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image: National Gallery of Art — Museum open access

In the life of Albrecht Dürer

The whole life

c. 1492 – 1494
Basel: woodcuts for the printers
In Basel, a centre of printing, Dürer stayed with Georg Schongauer. A woodblock for the title page of the Letters of St Jerome (1492), signed with his name on the back, led to the works of the “Master of the Bergmann Press” being attributed to him; he may also have worked on the woodcuts for Sebastian Brant's Ship of Fools.
July 1494
Marries Agnes Frey
Soon after returning to Nuremberg the 23-year-old Dürer married Agnes Frey, daughter of a prominent brass worker and amateur harpist; the match had been arranged in his absence, and marriage was required to open a workshop of his own. They had no children, and his letters suggest the marriage was not a happy one.
7 July 1494
Married: Agnes Dürer
1494–1495
First journey to Italy
Within three months of the wedding Dürer left alone for Italy, perhaps fleeing an outbreak of plague in Nuremberg. Crossing the Alps he made watercolour landscapes; in Venice he studied its art and judged Giovanni Bellini the best of its painters; Mantegna and Pollaiuolo left their mark on him.
1495
Opens his own workshop
Dürer opened his own workshop in Nuremberg, where over the next ten years he created much of his printmaking. His godfather, the publisher Anton Koberger, helped issue the first series; the city's crafts were governed by the Council rather than guilds, leaving him free to try new techniques and sell his own impressions.