Page 146 - The mystery of faith

Fig. 1 homogeneous. Moreover, any related documentation is
Fig. 1a relatively rare, as several commissions were unregistered and
were not notarized, as in the case of the present works. This is
a problem that was particularly noted by Martín Fidalgo in her
contributions to the 1983 Seville exhibition, and more recently
reiterated by Antonio Torrejón in his work for the section
entitled Teatro de Grandezas, part of the exhibition series
Andalucía Barroca.6

In seventeenth-century Seville sculpture was affected by three
major stylistic phases that were each instigated consecutively by
Juan Martínez Montañés, José de Arce and Pedro Roldán. The
two sculptures exhibited here, which are characterized by their
softness of form, smooth modelling and increased sense of
dynamism, should be attributed to this ‘second phase’, that is
when Arce’s influence dominated.

The Infant Christ paired with the Infant Baptist in the Church of
San Juan de la Palma in Seville are the first documented
sculptures in Seville that follow this Arcesque stylistic model, but
do not emulate the style of Martínez Montañés (Figs. 1, 1a, 2,
2a). This Infant Baptist, formerly attributed to Ribas, has more
recently been ascribed in fact to José de Arce.7 These works,
which have splendid polychromy and estofado decoration by the
painter Gaspar de Ribas, were donated by Francisco Dionisio de
Ribas in 1644, who is traditionally assumed to be their author.8
Like his brother Felipe, Francisco was known to have been
influenced by Arce. However, to date, he is known only as an
architect of altarpieces; the sculptures incorporated into his
works having been carved by other artists, for example, the
altarpiece in the Convent of la Merced de Jerez de la Frontera,
where the sculptures were executed by Francisco Gálvez, another
disciple of Arce. Dabrio González defined the sculptural style of
Francisco Dionisio de Ribas by those sculptures that were
incorporated into his known altarpieces, but since some of these
works are documented as being by Gálvez, this has led to some
confusion.

The present exhibited Infant Christ stands with his right foot
advanced to instil a sense of movement, a pose that would appear
to be a direct reaction against the more static nature of

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