James Cordova Arts

Retablo, 1999

Hand-adzed wood, home-made gesso, water-based natural pigments, piñon-resin varnish, leather.

San Geronimo (Saint Jerome)

One of the four primary fathers of the Church, Saint Jerome was a fifth-century hermit whose major contribution to Christianity was his translation of the Bible from Greek, Hebrew and Latin Vulgate. Though he lived many years as an ascetic, intellectual hermit, he was educated in Rome where he was the secretary of the pope. In some instances he is depicted as a bearded, bare-chested hermit standing on a lion (referencing a story in which Jerome removed a thorn from the paw of a lion and subsequently won a life-long companion in the grateful beast). In other instances, he is depicted in a red robe, holding a book and quill, which references his translation of the Bible.