Ghirlandaio’s St. Jerome

Detail of St. Jerome in His Study (1480) by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494)

Note the Hebrew on the scroll and the Greek capitals at the bottom. The Greek is the opening of Psalm 51 (LXX). The Hebrew is not completely legible. The first two lines contain the names of the angels Kemuel and Uzziel; the second two say “I still call out in anguish; my lament is troubling me” — possibly also from one of the psalms (22?), but I cannot place it. If Hebraist reading this can identify the text more precisely, let me know.

Here’s the whole painting:

Advertisement