Saint Jerome and the Lion (From the former Church of St. Peter in Erfurt)
Tilman Riemenschneider (German, active Würzburg, c. 1460–1531)
c. 1495
- Medium
- alabaster, traces of polychromy
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- Overall: 37.8 x 28.1 x 15.9 cm (14 7/8 x 11 1/16 x 6 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- Germany, Würzburg, late 15th Century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Medieval Art
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
This statue shows an important moment from a story about Saint Jerome. One day Jerome encountered a hurt lion. He removed a thorn from its paw, and the grateful animal became Jerome’s lifelong companion.
This sculpture is made of alabaster, a soft stone suited for carving fine detail. Look closely! You can see flecks of paint and gold from when it was originally painted. Conservators looked at this sculpture under a microscope and found that the lion once had a red mouth, yellow fur, and black claws.
