Page 128 - The mystery of faith

The Church’s desire to promote this cult of the Eucharist in the
Americas and the associated increased demand for portable
tabernacles and sculptures proved of particular benefit to
Montañés, and he received several commissions to provide such
objects for Dominican and Franciscan convents throughout
Hispano-America. Concommitently in Spain, confraternities
devoted to the Eucharist were forming in the parishes and dioceses,
and with municipal support began to establish an annual tradition
of devotional processions, or pasos, of the Corpus Christi, which
were mounted with great pomp and celebration. Here, rather than
depicting Christ as a man, the main character in the procession
becomes Christ as the Holy Infant, who is presented conferring his
blessing upon the crowd with his right hand, while carrying the
cross in his left. Although these sculptures of the Infant Christ were
conceived to participate in the procession dressed in an
embroidered túnica, they were nevertheless carved completely with
great realism, and reflect a close observation of infant anatomy,
such as the fold of the buttocks at the top of the legs.

Although Professor Álvaro Recio believes that the 1606 work in
Seville is the artist’s only known sculpture of this subject, an Infant
Christ dated 1596 in the Church of Santa María de las Virtudes in
Villamartín, outside Cadiz (Figs. 2a, b) should be considered the
earliest example by the artist.3 The present work is a fully
autograph replica of the sculpture in Villamartín, with the addition
of rock crystal eyes, and like other cult statues of the Infant Christ,
Fig. 1 would have been dressed. The Villamartín Infant Christ is
somewhat similar to Hernández’ earlier version, specifically in the long curls and chopped fringe of the
hairstyle, and the pose with the weight solidly placed on the left leg and the right leg slightly advanced,
a stance that is quite different from the sense of weightlessness and grace seen in the 1606 work,
although the present work does appear to feature a similar hairstyle of short, thick curls.

A comparison with the figure in Saint Christopher Bearing the Christ Child (1597) in the Colegiata de
El Salvador (Fig. 3),4 shows that at this earlier date Montañés’ approach to infant physiognomy is quite
different from his recognized autograph type from 1606. Here, the Child is depicted wearing a shirt
carved in only a few simple angular folds, and extending his right hand in blessing. The index and
middle fingers are slightly splayed, but the ring finger and little fingers are joined, a gesture that is
shared by the work in Villamartín, Hernández’ work and the present work, but not in the 1606 Infant
Christ, which has more naturalistically modelled hands with outstretched fingers.

Moreover, in both the present work and the Villamartín Infant Christ we see the same broad brow, full
chin, slightly arched eyebrows, a short, thin nose, and small closed lips. Also in both works, the wide,

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