This is almost certainly the Saint Jerome by Jacopo Bassano recalled by Ridolfi and da Verci at the Widmanns’ in Venice. One of Jacopo Bassano’s seminal works and generally dated to between 1563 and 1568, it is on a par with his Pentecost and Saints Peter and Paul in Modena.

Immediately striking is the monumentality of the figure of the hermit Saint Jerome, who is made to occupy the foreground but is at the same time perfectly inserted within nature with a sense of complete harmony. The natural light and its unifying power are given extraordinary importance. It objectively reveals the very skin of each object and at the same time permeates matter itself, shattering it into minute, vibrant fragments. The crepuscular setting implies an increase in the penumbra and an enhancement of the whites which are infused with colour and acquire a silver, almost magical tone.