Page 134 - The mystery of faith

There was a dual predicament in the representation of this
subject, one artistic, the other religious. The artistic challenge
was to revive the style of classical draped statuary while still
at the same time revealing the anatomy – a style already well
established during the Renaissance. In addition, there was the
further Baroque requirement for a more authentic or realistic
human form, described in documents of the period as ‘al vivo
y al natural’ (alive and natural). The religious issue was how
to achieve a model of such feminine beauty and grace that it
convincingly evoked and represented a sense of the
supernatural, something a priori that was difficult to
reconcile. Thus the subject of the Immaculate Conception
demands a humble adolescent, chosen to become the Mother
of the Son of God, who is given the grace of being conceived
without the original sin visited on all mankind since the Fall.
This theological aspect compounded a difficult aesthetic
problem. The expectation of the religious authorities was that
artists, with the limited resources available to them, should
infuse the viewer with the mystic nature of the spirituality of
faith and yet also make it a reality by means of the
contemplation of a plastic creation. Many of the greatest
Spanish Baroque sculptors shared the intense religiosity of
their age and tried time and again to create a masterpiece that
spoke to the faithful in a language they understood, whether
Fig. 3 they were educated or illiterate. One way of achieving this end
was by creating a modest feminine face that evoked, with its grace, purity and tenderness, the supreme
beauty of body and soul. These ideas are well documented in artistic and religious texts of the time.4

The Inmaculada sculpture exhibited here was unknown until very recently and such a discovery is a
rare and pleasant surprise, even in the field of Spanish art. The image fits perfectly well with Juan
Martínez Montañés’ style from the period that started with the Inmaculada del Pedroso (1606; Fig. 3,
prior to the sublime La Cieguecita)5 and was continued by his disciples and followers, both in the
Americas and in Spain, such as Juan de Mesa, Francisco de Ocampo, Gaspar de la Cueva, Pedro de
Noguera, Luis Ortíz de Vargas and Jacinto Pimentel, among others. This Inmaculada’s similarity to the
master’s works brings to mind the names of Francisco de Ocampo and, in particular, Montañés’ best
disciple, the cordobés Juan de Mesa. Mesa was a sculptor who was enormously in demand, especially
for his sculptures of Christ crucified (such as the Buena Muerte or Vergara) and of Christ carrying the
cross (Gran Poder).6 In contrast with his elderly master, Mesa died young, so his definitive works date
from a limited period of just over fifteen years (1610–1627). This makes the discovery of a new piece
to add to his catalogue so much more important. This Inmaculada may be compared to his documented
sculptures, such as the Inmaculada Carmelita (Convent of San José, Seville, c. 1610; Fig. 4); Virgin and

134