Sevillian school of sculpture
Encyclopedia
The Sevillian school of sculpture—the tradition of Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 religious sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

, Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

—began in the 13th century, formed a clear tradition of its own in the 16th century, and continues into the present.

The conquest of Seville by Ferdinand III of Castile

During the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...

, Seville was taken by Ferdinand III of Castile
Ferdinand III of Castile
Saint Ferdinand III, T.O.S.F., was the King of Castile from 1217 and León from 1230. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela of Castile. Through his second marriage he was also Count of Aumale. He finished the work done by his maternal grandfather Alfonso VIII and consolidated the...

 in 1248. From that time, both sculptures in the then-current Gothic style and sculptors working in that style began arriving in the city, the Romanesque influences were also still present. The Gothic influences came particularly from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, which also had important influence in other cultural, political, and religious respects. Among the sculptures that date from this time are the Virgen de la Sede ("Virgin of the [Ecclesiastical] Seat," that is, of the Cathedral of Seville), the Virgen de las Batallas ("Virgin of the Battles", also in the cathedral) and the Virgen de los Reyes ("Virgin of the Kings"), patroness
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

 of the city, whose clothing, hair, and articulation to allow movement would spawn many imitations.

Important works in the following century included the crucified Saint Peter in Sanlúcar la Mayor
Sanlúcar la Mayor
Sanlúcar la Mayor is a municipality in the province of Seville, southern Spain. The municipality is also the location of the Solucar solar power plant....

 and the Virgen de los Milagros ("Virgin of the Miracles") in the La Rábida Monastery
La Rabida Monastery
La Rábida Monastery is a Franciscan monastery in the southern Spanish town of Palos de la Frontera, in the province of Huelva and the autonomous region of Andalucia...

.

15th century: Dutch and Burgundian influence

The late 15th century brought significant developments for sculpture in Seville. The influence of the early 15th century Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 sculptor Claus Sluter
Claus Sluter
Claus Sluter was a sculptor of Dutch origin. He was the most important northern European sculptor of his age and is considered a pioneer of the "northern realism" of the Early Netherlandish painting that came into full flower with the work of Jan van Eyck and others in the next generation.Sluter...

 arrived by way of Burgundy, where Dutch painter Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....

 was working in the court of Duke Philip the Good. Lorenzo Mercadante
Lorenzo Mercadante
Lorenzo Mercadante or Lorenzo Mercadante de Bretaña was a Breton sculptor active in the second half of the 15th century. Between 1454 and 1467 he worked in the Cathedral of Seville, where he executed the sepulchre of Cardinal Juan de Cervantes and the decoration of the portals of Christ's Birth...

, working in the Seville Cathedral, created a series of marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

 and terracotta sculptures representing this aesthetic. Pedro Millán carried on this tradition, and was its most important exponent in Seville, creating such works as the Virgen del Pilar ("Virgin of the Pillar") at the cathedral—with iconography distinct from the Aragonese
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...

 iconography of the time—and the groups Varón de Dolores ("Man of Sorrows") and Llanto sobre Cristo muerto ("Lament Over the Dead Christ", pictured above), now in the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville
Museum of Fine Arts of Seville
The Museum of Fine Arts of Seville or Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla is a museum in Seville, Spain, a collection of mainly Spanish visual arts from medieval period to the early 20th century, including a choice selection of works from the so-called Golden Age of Sevillian painting during the 17th...

. The great altarpiece of the Seville Cathedral is architecturally Gothic; over the course of a century it acquired thousands of figures arranged in various sacred stories, created by important artists, and which are worked with utmost care even when they are placed very far up in the structure.

16th century: Prosperity

With a monopoly on Spanish trade with the West Indies, Seville saw a great influx of wealth. This wealth drew Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 artists such as Pietro Torrigiano
Pietro Torrigiano
Pietro Torrigiano was an Italian sculptor of the Florentine school. According to Giorgio Vasari, he was one of the group of talented youths who studied art under the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence....

, classmate rival of Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...

 in the garden of the Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...

. Torrigiano executed magnificent sculptures at the monastery of Saint Jerome and elsewhere in Seville, as well as important tombs and other works, which brought the influence of the Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...

 and of humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....

 to Seville. French and Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 sculptors such as Roque Balduque
Roque Balduque
Roque Balduque was a sculptor and maker of altarpieces. Born at an unknown date in Bois-le-Duc , capital of North Brabant in Flanders, he is known for his work in Spain in the last years of his life.-Life:Balduque was married to a woman known as Isabel de Balduq; with a son, they settled in...

 arrived as well, bringing with them a tradition of a greater realism. The classicist tradition from Italy with its ideals of beauty and the northern tradition with a greater emphasis on expression combined to create the atmosphere of sculpture in Seville in the first two thirds of the 16th century. To these would later be added the mannerism
Mannerism
Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...

 characteristic of the era.

Isidro de Villoldo, who had collaborated with Alonso Berruguete
Alonso Berruguete
Alonso González de Berruguete was a Spanish painter, sculptor and architect. He is considered to be the most important sculptor of the Spanish Renaissance, and is known for his emotive sculptures depicting religious ecstasy or torment.Born in the town of Paredes de Nava, Berrugete studied art...

 to produce the choir stalls of the Cathedral of Toledo
Cathedral of Toledo
The Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Toledo, Spain, seat of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Toledo....

, and who had also done important work in Castile
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...

, arrived to sculpt the main altarpiece of the charterhouse of the Monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas
Monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas
The Monastery of Santa María de las Cuevas, also known as the Monastery of the Cartuja , is a religious building on the island of La Cartuja in Seville, southern Spain.-History:...

. However, he died suddenly, leaving the project unfinished. The distinguished Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...

n sculptor Juan Bautista Vázquez the Elder
Juan Bautista Vázquez the Elder
Juan Bautista Vázquez el Viejo was a Spanish sculptor.Born in Pelayos , as a small child he moved with his family to Ávila, where the lived adjacent to the main market square. He first learned his art there in the studio of Vasco de la Zarza. It is believed that he then went to Italy, where his...

 continued the project, aided by several others including his son Juan Bautista Vázquez the Younger
Juan Bautista Vázquez the Younger
Juan Bautista Vázquez the Younger was a Spanish sculptor, active in the late 16th century and early 17th century, son of Juan Bautista Vázquez the Elder, and a member of the Sevillian school of sculpture.-Life and work:...

, his brother-in-law the wood sculptor Juan de Oviedo the Elder, Jerónimo Hernández, Miguel de Adán, Gaspar del Águila, and Gaspar Núñez Delgado.

Prior to this massive influx of sculptors captained by the elder Vázquez, Seville had, perhaps, primarily drawn in sculptors and influences from elsewhere. From this point, there is an unquestionable continuous tradition of sculpture specific to Seville. Furthermore, the younger Vázquez would go on to create the main altarpiece of the Monastery of Saint Jerome
Monastery of Saint Jerome (Granada)
The Monastery of St. Jerome is a Roman Catholic church and Hieronymite monastery in Granada, Spain. Architecturally, it is in the Renaissance style...

 in Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

, where he would establish a distinct Granadan school of sculpture
Granadan school of sculpture
The Granadan school of sculpture or Granadine school of sculpture—the tradition of Christian religious sculpture in Granada, Andalusia, Spain—began in the 16th century and constituted a clear tradition of its own by the 17th century...

.

Martínez Montañés

In the final quarter of the 16th century, Juan Martínez Montañés
Juan Martínez Montañés
Juan Martínez Montañés , known as el Dios de la Madera , was a Spanish sculptor, born at Alcalá la Real, in the province of Jaén. He was one of the most important figures of the Sevillian school of sculpture.His master was Pablo de Roxas. His first known work, dating 1597, is the graceful St...

, born in Alcalá la Real
Alcalá la Real
Alcalá la Real is a city located in the province of Jaén, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the city has a population of 22,129 inhabitants.-Geography:...

 (province of Jaén made his residence in Seville; it would be his base throughout his long life and career. The greatest and most characteristic sculptor of the school of Seville, in the course of a long and fruitful career Martínez Montañés produced important altarpieces and sculptures for numerous places in Spain and the Americas. Originally a classicist, but tending later in his career toward a light Baroque
Baroque sculpture
Baroque sculpture is the sculpture associated with the Baroque cultural movement, a movement often identified with the existence of important Baroque art and architecture in non-absolutist and Protestant states.-Course:...

, his art instantiated the views of the Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...

 with respect to the pastoral value of sacred imagery. His polychrome
Polychrome
Polychrome is one of the terms used to describe the use of multiple colors in one entity. It has also been defined as "The practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." Polychromatic light is composed of a number of different wavelengths...

 sculptures in wood show an equilibrium between material and form, idea and representation; his figures at show a lighthanded realism that supports the substance of their expression. His studio was, in effect, a school for artists, and his work influenced 17th century artists in Spain and in the Spanish colonies. Among his students were Juan de Mesa
Juan de Mesa
Juan de Mesa y Velasco was a Spanish Baroque sculptor. He was the creator of several of the effigies that are used in the procession during the Holy Week in Seville....

, originally from Córdoba
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...

 and Alonzo Cano
Alonzo Cano
Alonzo Cano or Alonso Cano was a Spanish painter, architect and sculptor born in Granada. He learned architecture from his father, Miguel Cano; painting in the academy of Juan del Castillo, and from Francisco Pacheco the teacher of Velázquez; and sculpture from Juan Martínez Montañés...

, originally from Granada, both prominent figures in the Spanish Baroque. Mesa is known particularly for processional images for penitential confraternities
Confraternity
A confraternity is normally a Roman Catholic or Orthodox organization of lay people created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy...

, including several that are used during Holy Week in Seville
Holy Week in Seville
Holy Week in Seville is one of the most important traditional events of the city. It is celebrated in the week leading up to Easter , and is one of the better known religious events within Spain...

. Cano became an architect, sculptor, and painter, whose works can be seen in Seville, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 and his native Granada; he was the originator of the Baroque era of the school of Granada.

Evolution in the 17th century

The next generation sculptors who continued the Baroque tradition in Seville after Martínez Montañés and Cano included the Cordoban brothers Francisco Dionisio de Ribas and Felipe de Ribas (though the latter did not outlive Martínez Montañés).

In the middle third of the 17th century, the Fleming Joseph Aerts settled in Seville and Castilianized his name to José de Arce. In his native land, he had been influenced by François Duquesnoy
François Duquesnoy
François Duquesnoy was a Baroque sculptor in Rome. His more idealized representations are often contrasted with the emotional character of Bernini's works, while his style shows greater affinity to Algardi's sculptures....

, who, in turn, was influenced by the Baroque style of Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...

. José de Arce introduced these new influences to Andalusia, renewing the regional and local aesthetic with a new impetus toward clarity, dynamism, and chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"....

.

Pedro Roldán
Pedro Roldán
Pedro Roldán was a Baroque sculptor from Seville, Andalusia, Spain. His daughter Luisa Roldán, known as La Roldana, was also a major figure of Spanish Baroque sculpture.- Life :...

 headed an important family studio that also included his daughter María Luisa Roldán ("La Roldana") and his grandson Pedro Duque y Cornejo
Pedro Duque y Cornejo
Pedro Duque y Cornejo was a Spanish Baroque painter and sculptor of the Sevillian school of sculpture, a disciple of his grandfather Pedro Roldán....

, one of the greatest Sevillian sculptors of the 18th century. They produced numerous excellent and virtuosic Baroque altarpieces, figures, choirs stalls, etc.

Later developments

In the last decades of the 17th century, the work of Francisco Ruiz Gijón shows an acutely realistic Baroque style. Benito de Hita y Castillo and José Montes de Oca (the last with an aesthetic strongly influenced by Martínez Montañés) complete the era of Baroque sculpture in the 18th century.

Cristóbal Ramos, Juan and Gabriel Astorga, and Blas Molner were the leading Sevillian sculptors of the 19th century. All four worked almost exclusively as religious sculptors, providing sculptures for places of worship in Andalusia. Antonio Susillo continued the tradition into the 20th century, followed by his student Joaquín Bilbao. Later notable figures of the school of Seville are Enrique Pérez Comendador, Juan Luis Vassallo and Antonio Cano Correa.

Antecedents

  • Lorenzo Mercadante de Bretaña (active in the second half of the 15th century)
  • Pedro Millán (active 1487–1507)
  • Pietro Torrigiano
    Pietro Torrigiano
    Pietro Torrigiano was an Italian sculptor of the Florentine school. According to Giorgio Vasari, he was one of the group of talented youths who studied art under the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence....

     (1472-1522)
  • Isidro de Villoldo

Creation of the school

  • Juan Bautista Vázquez the Elder
    Juan Bautista Vázquez the Elder
    Juan Bautista Vázquez el Viejo was a Spanish sculptor.Born in Pelayos , as a small child he moved with his family to Ávila, where the lived adjacent to the main market square. He first learned his art there in the studio of Vasco de la Zarza. It is believed that he then went to Italy, where his...

     (1510-1588)
  • Juan de Oviedo the Elder (1536-1592)
  • Juan Bautista Vázquez the Younger
    Juan Bautista Vázquez the Younger
    Juan Bautista Vázquez the Younger was a Spanish sculptor, active in the late 16th century and early 17th century, son of Juan Bautista Vázquez the Elder, and a member of the Sevillian school of sculpture.-Life and work:...

  • Jerónimo Hernández (1540-1586)
  • Miguel de Adán (1532-1610)
  • Gaspar del Águila (1530-1602)
  • Gaspar Núñez Delgado
  • Andrés de Ocampo (1555-1625)
  • Juan de Oviedo the Younger (1565-1625)

Splendid era

  • Juan Martínez Montañés
    Juan Martínez Montañés
    Juan Martínez Montañés , known as el Dios de la Madera , was a Spanish sculptor, born at Alcalá la Real, in the province of Jaén. He was one of the most important figures of the Sevillian school of sculpture.His master was Pablo de Roxas. His first known work, dating 1597, is the graceful St...

     (1568-1649)
  • Francisco de Ocampo y Felguera (1579-1639)
  • Juan de Mesa
    Juan de Mesa
    Juan de Mesa y Velasco was a Spanish Baroque sculptor. He was the creator of several of the effigies that are used in the procession during the Holy Week in Seville....

     (1583-1627)
  • José Aertz, Castilianized as José de Arce (1600-1666)
  • Pedro Roldán
    Pedro Roldán
    Pedro Roldán was a Baroque sculptor from Seville, Andalusia, Spain. His daughter Luisa Roldán, known as La Roldana, was also a major figure of Spanish Baroque sculpture.- Life :...

     (1624-1699)
  • María Luisa Roldán, "La Roldana", (1652-1706)

Later stages

  • Francisco Ruiz Gijón (1653-?)
  • José Montes de Oca (1668-1754)
  • Pedro Duque y Cornejo
    Pedro Duque y Cornejo
    Pedro Duque y Cornejo was a Spanish Baroque painter and sculptor of the Sevillian school of sculpture, a disciple of his grandfather Pedro Roldán....

     (1677-1757), grandson of Pedro Roldán
  • Benito de Hita y Castillo (1714-1784)
  • Cristóbal Ramos
  • Los Astorga (Juan and Gabriel)
  • Blas Molner
  • Antonio Susillo (1857-1896)
  • Joaquín Bilbao (1864-1934)
  • Enrique Pérez Comendador
  • Juan Luis Vassallo (1908-1986)
  • Antonio Cano Correa(1909- )
  • Carmen Jiménez Serrano(1920- )
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