Rembrandt's Tree Stump: An Iconographic Attribute of St. Jerome

Abstract

In discussing Rembrandt's etching of St. Jerome beneath a Pollard Willow (Fig. 1), dated 1648, Arthur Hind convincingly described the composition as a study of a tree stump “with St. Jerome thrown in.”1 In this well-known print, which dates from Rembrandt's most intense period of landscape production, the gigantic tree stump is indeed the dominant element in the scene. Split at the top into two sections that curve toward each other like cupped hands, the tree still puts forth two leafy branches – one etched and the other in drypoint – which extend toward the right. Beneath these sparse living branches appears the small, more lightly etched figure of the old hermit, bent intently over his pen and paper. As St. Jerome, he is clearly identified by his traditional attributes: the lion at the far left and the cardinal's hat at his side. In addition, Jerome's writing desk, ingeniously attached to the trunk of the tree, displays a pile of books topped by a skull and a barely visible crucifix at the left.