St Jerome Reading, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1634
etching, h 108mm × w 89mm More details
St Jerome once helped a lion by removing a painful thorn from its paw, and is thus often depicted together with the animal. Here the creature looks like a strapping, misshapen cat, undoubtedly because Rembrandt at this point had never seen a real lion. He probably based his representation on (equally awkward) models in 16th-century prints.
