Copyright Dr. Elizabeth Garner and Gary Hind, May, 14, 2014, All Rights Reserved

Dürer stopped manufacturing St. Jerome images after his 1496 engraving until this composition was published in 1511.

Notice the clue of the sundial and hourglass, clearly depicting the numeral “1.” Please see my article “What Time Is It?” to understand what type of clue Dürer gives us, for he is certainly giving us a coded message of some sort.

But now take a look at the predatory drawing Duerer made in anticipation of this publishing this woodcut. First we, can see that, despite the “experts’ opinions, this drawing could never have been intended to be transferred to a woodblock as the date of 1511 and the monogram is not in reverse (lower part of the drawing). In the print, the date got moved to the chest. the Jew box got moved to book on a pillow.

If we compare the lions, in the drawing this lion is wide awake and staring at the date, while in the print, the lion is sleeping.