Year c. 1439 Artist Filippo Lippi | Medium Tempera on panel Created 1439 | |
 | ||
Dimensions 53 cm × 37 cm (21 in × 15 in) Location Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg Similar Filippo Lippi artwork, Other artwork | ||
The St. Jerome in Penance is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Filippo Lippi, dating to c. 1439. It is housed in the Lindenau-Museum of Altenburg, Germany. The work could be identified with the St. Jerome Penitent of which Lippi asked payment in a letter issued to Piero de' Medici in 1439.
The painting is one of the first known example on the subject of St. Jerome doing penance. It is a small panel, divided into two different scenes: in the upper part is St. Jerome with the wooden cross, the stone to strike his breast and the lectern lying on the rock. In the lower part, with a chronological step, is the episode of the saint with the lion having a thorn in the paw. The unfriendly landscape is a metaphor of the hermit style of life.