The present work depicts the saint clothed in a dark cloak. His red cardinal's robe lies discarded behind the crucifix beside a pile of books representative of his writings and the lion his loyal companion accompanies him. Several drops of blood upon the saint's torso and the stone at his right signify his mortification: Jerome wished to feel Christ's pain directly. The scene is depicted beneath an old oak tree on the outskirts of a wood. On the right of the image the artist has replaced the wilderness with a panoramic landscape reminiscent of those found in the works of Lucas van Gassel. Several travellers are shown on a rural path leading across a stone bridge to a castle or abbey behind which a windmill stands tall upon a hill. The landscape ends in a mountain range spanning the horizon. The artist paints the scene in vivid colours similar to those used by Coecke van Aelst. The saint's facial features are also reminiscent of those found on figures from van Aelst's works such as St. Joseph in the "Flight into Egypt" formerly housed in the Mouton Collection in Brussels