Spanish Baroque Sculpture: Characteristics, Schools, and Key Figures
Spanish Baroque Sculpture
Features of Spanish Baroque Sculpture
Spanish Baroque sculpture is characterized by:
- Polychrome Wood: The primary material used, often painted in vibrant colors.
- Religious Focus: Almost exclusively religious, serving the Counter-Reformation’s desire to evoke religious emotion.
- Realism: An attempt to create lifelike representations, especially for processional use.
- Limited Court Sculpture: Primarily the work of foreign artists, such as the equestrian statues of Philip III by John of Bologna and Philip IV by Pietro Tacca.
- Altarpieces and Cult Images: Proliferation of elaborate altarpieces and devotional images.
- Technique: A shift from Renaissance ‘stew’ technique, replacing gold with color and real fabric for clothing details, often using smaller figures with detailed heads, hands, and feet.
Schools and Stages of Development
The development of Spanish Baroque sculpture can be divided into stages:
- 17th Century: Two main schools: Castellana (Madrid and Valladolid) and Andalusian (Seville and Granada).
- Late 17th Century: The most significant Baroque transformation occurs.
- 18th Century: The Levantine region, particularly Murcia, becomes a prominent center.
Castellana School
The Castellana School is known for its naturalism, exaggerating features to emphasize the dramatic aspects of religious events. The most important figure in the early stage is Gregorio Fernandez, a Galician sculptor based in Valladolid. He created highly naturalistic religious images, especially of Christ lying down, Pietàs, and the Immaculate Conception. While initially influenced by Mannerism, he soon adopted extreme naturalism, focusing on morbid aspects of religion, such as bleeding wounds. He is a key representative of pain and passion. His technique involves using broken and angular folds reminiscent of Flemish painting and sculpture.
Manuel Pereira worked in the court, adopting a classic and sober style in contrast to Fernandez’s pathos.
Andalusian School
The Andalusian School differs from the Castellana School by representing serene and sweet images, replacing the blood and pain characteristic of the Castellana School with gold, as used in the Renaissance.
Key figures include:
- Juan Martinez Montanes (1568-1648): Highly valued in his time, Montanes ran a workshop where he trained. He spent most of his life in Seville. His figures are notable for their classical proportions and less dramatic content. He received numerous commissions, including some from America, for creating retablos. Notable works include the retablo of St. Jerome in the convent of Santiponce (Seville) and devotional images of the Immaculate Conception.
- Juan de Mesa (1587-1627): Originally from Cordoba, Mesa was a disciple of Martinez Montanes, but his works are more dramatic. He is known for the Jesus del Gran Poder.
- Alonso Cano (1601-67): A versatile artist who was also an architect and painter. He studied in the studio of Francisco Pacheco, Velazquez’s teacher. As a sculptor, he specialized in feminine images of great sweetness, particularly the Immaculate Conception and Virgin and Child.
- Pedro de Mena (1628-88): A follower of Alonso Cano, his most important work is the Penitent Magdalene, which demonstrates technical mastery and realism without the dramatic pathos of the Castellana School.
Murcian School
Francisco Salzillo (1707-83), born in Italy, moved to Murcia in 1700. He demonstrated a mastery of anatomy and passionate use of color, making his sculptures highly plausible. He created processional figures and nativity scenes with small, detailed figures that anticipate the Rococo style.