Page 168 - The mystery of faith

composition and incorporates many of the same features,
including the arrangement of Saint’s Anne’s mantle, and the
clear transcription of a relevant passage of scripture on the
open book.6

La Roldana probably made this work during the early 1680s
when she and her husband, Luis Antonio de los Arcos, were
in Seville, or possibly even after 1684, when they had moved
on to Cadiz. Stylistically it is similar to some of La Roldana’s
small, polychrome, terracotta groups, which later became
her signature works. Having been made completely
independent of altarpieces with architectural decorations,
these pieces were probably unique for the time, and with
their inclusion of still lifes, furniture, flowers and animals
almost prefigure Rococo porcelain groups. Two
polychromed terracotta groups that date to the 1680s are an
Education of the Virgin in the collection of the Marqués de
Perinat (Fig. 2), and a Rest on the Flight into Egypt
belonging to the Condesa de Ruiseñada (Fig. 3). The head of
Saint Anne in the first work and the head of the Virgin in the
second both derive from models by Pedro Roldán and share
Fig. 1 the same oval face, framed by the mantle and featuring
arched eyebrows, wide eyes with a slightly serious
expression, tempered by a light smile of satisfaction on the
lips, and a centre-parted hairstyle that marks the axis of the
composition. Often the head of Saint Anne or the Virgin is
tilted to one side, to avoid any impression of stasis in the
pyramidal composition. La Roldana paid considerable
attention to detail, as may be seen in the sculpting of the
chair, where Saint Anne’s weight depresses the underside of
the chair’s upholstery just as would have happened in reality.
Another Education of the Virgin in polychromed wood in
Cadiz, in the monastery church of Our Lady of Mercy (Fig. 4),
also shows the same facial features, treatment of the mantle
and pose of the head as the present Saint Anne. On the
arched back of the elaborate gilded throne, upholstered in
red with arms terminating in lion’s heads, is a single
polychromed seraphim, perhaps included as a nod to La
Roldana’s signature cherubs that often bubble up en masse
beneath her later terracotta groups, such as the Madonna
and Child with Saint John the Baptist (1692),7 or the Virgin
and Child with Saint Diego of Alcalá,8 and a Holy Family in

Fig. 2

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