771. ST. JEROME IN THE DESERT.
Bono (Ferrarese: painted about 1450).
In the signature of this picture, "Bono of Ferrara" announces himself "a pupil of Pisano's," and the figure of St. Jerome here much resembles Pisano's "St. Anthony" (776). Bono's other known work is a fresco of St. Christopher in the Eremitani Chapel at Padua. "A clumsy and inferior master," says Morelli (German Galleries, p. 11 n.); "an excellent painter," says Sir F. Burton. His style is, at any rate, precise and effective.
St. Jerome (for whom see 773 and 227) is in the desert, deep in thought; his lion couched at his feet keeps his master's thoughts company as faithfully as a scholar's dog. The desert is here shown as the saint's study; notice, especially, the little table that the rock makes behind him for his books. Ruskin says of a similar modification of accessories to express supernatural character, in Bellini's "St. Jerome" at Venice: "The Saint sits upon a rock, his grand form defined against clear green open sky; he is reading; a noble tree springs out of a cleft in the rock, bends itself suddenly back to form a rest for the volume, then shoots up into the sky. There is something very beautiful in this obedient ministry of the lower creature; but be it observed that the sweet feeling of the whole depends upon the service being such as is consistent with its nature. It is not animated, it does not listen to the saint, not bend itself towards him as if in affection; this would have been mere fancy, illegitimate and effectless. But the simple bend of the trunk to receive the book is miraculous subjection of the true nature of the tree; it is therefore imaginative, and very touching" (Modern Painters, vol. ii. pt. iii. sec. ii. ch. v. ยง 8).