God - In charge

This small sculpture shows a man in conversation with a lion - a fantastic story that is one of the founding myths of Christianity. It refers to St. Jerome, who translated the Bible, which had been handed down in Hebrew and Greek, into Latin around the year 400. After he, living as a hermit in the desert, pulled a thorn out of a lion's paw, the animal became his companion. Next to the lectern is a jar intended for ink. The small drawers in the base can hold quills and sand to blot the ink.
The depiction of this learned and holy man was an extremely fitting subject for the desk of an archbishop and elector of Mainz. For Jerome is indeed in prayer, in conversation with God.
Various inscriptions tell us, among other things, about the artist who created the object in the year of his death.