Saint Jerome in His Study

Few printmakers approached Jerome's lion as sweetly as Lucas van Leyden, the Netherlandish counterpart to Albrecht Dürer. In legend Jerome removed a thorn from the animal's paw, earning himself a lifelong companion. While the saint contemplates the afterlife, the lion lets him know that one foot is still very much of this world. If the lion represents the wilderness where Jerome sought to conquer his physical passions, the animal's cuddly domestication suggests the triumph of rationality over base desire.