Infant St John the Baptist , 17th century

Cercle of Juan Martinez Montañés (1568-1649)
Infant St John the Baptist
Spanish, XVII century
H 74 cm

Saint John the Baptist is here represented naked, sitting on a rock, with the arms raised halfway. The beautiful head is crowned by curly hair forming a point above the forehead. The curly, dark hair frames a serene face with plump cheeks and small lips. The artist realized a tender figure, intended to touch the heart of the faithful.
This rare and superbly carved sculpted figure of the Infant St John the Baptist shares affinities with the work of the celebrated Spanish sculptor Juan Martinez Montañés know as “el dios de la madera”. The present figure shares the diminuitive nose, the glass eyes and small mouth with Montañés Infant models. The eyelashes and the hairs, individually delineated, as also the characteristic trapezoid shaped face are comparable with Montañés production.

Bibliography:

B.G. Proske, Juan Martínez Montañés: Sevillian Sculptor, New York, 1967, p. 51-52, figs. 31-32, 159, 182
M. Estella Marcos, La escultura barroca de marfil en España, Madrid, 1984, pp. 19-21;
J. Hernando Díaz, Juan Martínez Montañés (1568-1649), Seville, 1987;
S. L. Stratton-Pruitt and JL. Romero Torres, The Mystery of Faith: An Eye on Spanish Sculpture 1550-1750, exh. cat. Matthiesen Gallery and Coll & Cortes, London and Madrid, 2009