Saint Jean le Baptiste. Artiste : Juan Martínez Montañés (Espagnol, Alcalá la Real Séville 1568-1649). Culture : espagnol, Séville. Dimensions : hors tout (confirmé) : H. 5/8 x 60 5/8 x 29 W. D. 27 5/8 po. (154 x 75,2 x 70,2 cm). Date : ca. 1620-30. Juan Martínez Montañés a été l'un des plus grands sculpteurs espagnol de la première moitié du xviie siècle. Basée à Séville, il a sculpté de nombreuses statues en bois et des reliefs qui ont été peintes et intégrées dans les écrans grand autel appelé retablos (Anglais : retables) pour les églises dans sa région natale ou d'être expédiés vers le Nouveau Monde. Sa forte comme un arti
Cette image peut avoir des imperfections car il s’agit d’une image historique ou de reportage.
Saint John the Baptist. Artist: Juan Martínez Montañés (Spanish, Alcalá la Real 1568-1649 Seville). Culture: Spanish, Seville. Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): H. 60 5/8 x W. 29 5/8 x D. 27 5/8 in. (154 x 75.2 x 70.2 cm). Date: ca. 1620-30. Juan Martínez Montañés was one of the greatest spanish sculptors of the first half of the seventeenth century. Based in Seville, he carved numerous wooden statues and reliefs that were painted and integrated into large altar screens called retablos (English: retables) for churches in his native region or to be shipped to the New World. His forte as an artist was the single figure, standing or seated, usually robust, naturally posed, and richly robed. Somewhat defensively, he gave his reason for this: "As for the appearance of the statues when they are seen away from their settings by those who do not understand or maliciously criticize them, we say that once they are in their places they will be very effective, and if they did not have so much drapery they would look very insignificant when they were put in compartments at a distance." [Note 1] To modern eyes, his works even when removed from their original contexts have a powerfully sculptural form; but it is important to remember how critical the original church setting was in the artist's conception. The Museum's statue of Saint John the Baptist, a rare work by the master in a collection outside Spain or South America, illustrates these points. A mature man with a powerful physique, he wears a short brown tunic cinched with a rope around the waist. A crimson robe patterned with foliage and cherub heads is draped over his shoulder and partially covers the rock formation on which he stands and leans. His left hand rests on the rock while his right reaches across his body to point. This gesture was certainly toward a missing Lamb of God on an altar in the monastery church for which Saint John was made or toward the top of a banderole with the message "Behold the Lamb of God"
