Page 131 - The mystery of faith

Montañés’ model for the Infant Christ proved so popular that his followers produced numerous Niños
in polychromed lead. One of these copies is in the Museo de Bellas Artes, Cordoba, and is attributed
to Juan de Mesa.8 This work shows a heightened sense of realism in the eyes and a softer and more
rounded approach to anatomy, and this distinctive infant type is also evident in the cherubim beneath
the Virgin’s feet in an Assumption by Mesa in the Church of Santa María Magdalena Seville, which is
documented to 1619.

1 A. RECIO, ‘Juan Martínez Montañés, Niño Jesús’, in Teatro Canarias (siglos XVI y XVII)’, in El Señor a la Columna y
de Grandezas, exhibition catalogue, Seville 2007, p. 232. su Esclavitud, La Orotava 2009, p. 183.

2 That is, until around 1637, when the arrival of the 6 SOTHEBY’S, ‘A Spanish Painted Wooden Figure of the
Flemish-born sculptor José de Arce sparked a shift in Christ Child, from the Workshop of Juan Martínez
Andalusian sculpture away from the naturalism of Montañés’, in Old Master Paintings and Sculpture, New
Montañés and his followers towards a greater concentration York 2009, lot. 347.
on atmosphere and movement.
7 See H. VAN OS ET AL., The Art of Devotion in the Late
3 C. LÓPEZ MARTÍNEZ, Desde Martínez Montañés hasta Middle Ages in Europe, 1300–1500, exhibition catalogue,
Pedro Roldán, Seville 1932, p. 231. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 1994, pp. 100–103.

4 Commissioned by the Guild of Glovemakers for the parish 8 J. LUIS ROMERO TORRES and A. TORREJÓN DÍAZ, ‘Niño
church of El Salvador, this work, which is over two metres Jesús, 1607, Francisco de Ocampo, atribución’, in San
tall, was painted and decorated to the highest standard and Isidoro del Campo (1301–2002), Fortaleza de la
debuted as part of a processional in 1598. espiritualidad y santuario del poder, Seville 2002, pp.
176–179.
5 C. RODRÍGUEZ MORALES and P. F. AMADOR MARRERO,
‘Comercio, Obras y Autores de la Escultura sevillana en

131