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St. John the Baptist, wooden sculpture with marouflage technique - Spain - 16th century

Posted by CataWiki

13 May, 2020

St. John the Baptist, wooden sculpture with marouflage technique - Spain - 16th century

US$2,329.40

Important sculpture carved in wood with marouflage technique (known as ‘incamottatura’ after ‘camotta’, meaning fabric, canvas, a cover which is extended to the whole sculpture and drowned in the priming), with traces of gilding and polychromy. The work dates back to the Spanish Renaissance and was realised in the mid 16th century by a sculptor next to Alonso Berruguete (Paredes de Nava, 1488-Toledo, 1561). Losses and falls to polychromy. Height 86 cm, width 40 cm, depth 24 cm.The sculpture depicts a standing saint, dressed in camel horsehair (see Mark 1,6), partly covered by a cloak resting on his shoulders, whose drapery is set on large rhythmic stripes hiding the limbs, a clear expression of the Renaissance taste. Hands, feet and base are missing. The posture is rigid, with the weight of the body resting on the left leg. The ascetic face, with its inspired gaze, is surrounded by a flowing canopy, which goes sinuously down to the sides of the face, with a long two-parted beard. As in classical models, maybe the left hand was holding a book depicting the mystical lamb, against which the saint pointed the index of his right hand, thus translating into an image of immediate comprehension the phrase that he would pronounce at Christ's sight, which he had come to the banks of the Jordan to be baptized: ‘Ecce agnus dei qui tollit peccata mundi’.Thanks to the perfection of carving, the sculpture shows a magnificent anatomical study and an ascetic face full of pathos. Realistically reveals naturalistic details, such as the semi-open mouth or the anatomy highlithing the muscles.

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