Obraz Św. Hieronim w pracowni z kolekcji Lanckorońskich na Wawelu – iluzja i realizm na styku malarstwa włoskiego i niderlandzkiego przełomu XV i XVI w.

“St. Jerome in his study” – the painting by an anonymous painter that dates back to the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries from the Lanckoroński collection and is currently in the collection of the Wawel Royal Castle (inventory number 7958), is associated with the schools of Bologne and Ferrara. As a part of the predella of an altarpiece which no longer exists, it seems to be a mature work of art, created as a combination of artistic experiences of northern Italy. The painting includes stylistic and formal solutions of two intersecting trends emerging from Italian and Dutch paintings of the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, with a particular emphasis on the development of the real space, as well as the space based on illusion. In accordance with a prevailing at that time Alberti’s idea of the frame of the painting as an open window, the composition of the panel was based on the principle of a closed box – a coffer without a wall – the recto of the painting, so that a viewer could gain an inside perspective. Hence, by using principles of descriptive perspective, the painter created a real interior of a humanist studiolo, with deceptive depth of space, which is widened by the niches of the illusionistically painted cupboard shelves and objects placed on them. The most compelling and surprising element of the painting is a massive wall located on its left side, along with the illusionistically painted niches, piled one above the other. Only at this point may one have an impression that the recto of the painting is disturbed by delicate tassels strung on a string of a cardinal’s hat that seem to be “spilling” outside the niche. The semi-circular niche becomes a place for an extraordinary exhibition of still life – the cardinal’s hat, which, along with the lion is the most obvious attribute of St. Jerome. This trompe – l’oeil, surprising in its modest form, but at the same time very original, becomes a meaningful link connecting the South with the North – reality with illusion. At the same time, both niches are a distant reflection of the Hellenistic paintings of Herculaneum and Pompeii, which presented a still life (Xenion) arranged on two shelves, placed one above the other. The painter does not limit himself only to the niches. He also reflects the desire for reality that is constantly intriguing him in the way he creates the objects filling up the stone shelves of St. Jerome’s studiolo.