FOLLOWER OF VALENTIN DE BOULOGNE | St. Jerome in his study

Private collection, London;
Acquired circa 1971. 

A. Brejon de Lavergnée and J.P. Cuzin, I Caravaggeschi francesi, exhibition catalogue, Rome 1973, p. 136, under cat. no. 39 (as a copy after Valentin);
C. Wright, A Catalogue of the Old Master Paintings in the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. J.V. Feather at Bridley Manor, Surrey 1974, pp. 6, 21-25, cat. no. 5 (as attributed to Caravaggio);
B. Nicolson, The International Caravaggesque Movement, Oxford 1979, p. 105 (as a copy after Valentin);
B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe, Oxford 1989, vol. 1, p. 202 (as a copy after Valentin).

The canvas is relined. A few discolored isolated retouches are visible to the naked eye, including a small patch at upper left, an area along St. Jerome's red cloak and knee at lower center, and an L shaped repaired rear measuring approximately 6 x 6 inches at lower right. The varnish, especially along the flesh tones, appears to have blanched over time, rendering the skin somewhat milky white. In a carved gilt wood frame.
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This painting relates to a work of the same subject by Valentin de Boulogne in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin.¹

1. Oil on canvas, 102 by 145 cm.  See Brejon de Lavergnée and Cuzin, under Literature, p. 134, cat. no. 39, reproduced.