Page 196 - The mystery of faith

While Bigarny must have based the exhibited
work on an antique model, he nevertheless
sculpted the face according to his own
interpretation of the subject demanded. In effect,
the work is partly a copy after the antique and
partly a variation on an antique theme. It is a
sculpture that is theoretically ‘antique’ in that it
illustrates a classical ideal of feminine beauty, in
which the artists implicitly adhered to formal
principles of proportion and symmetry. One of the
first theoretical treatises in Roman art was written
in 1526 by Diego del Sagrado. In his work
Medidas del Romano, Sagrado held Bigarny up as
a master of sculpture, defining him as a ‘true
modern’, and this, before the nature of the antique
had even been clearly defined in Spanish art.

In this sculpture, Bigarny captured the measured
refinement, the mathematical relationship
between the various parts and their symmetrical
harmonious convergence into a whole that is the
very essence of the antique. Based on similarities
with reliefs by Bigarny depicting other feminine
subjects, the bust should probably be dated to
after 1536 and may have been thematically
inspired by Bigarny’s participation in one of the
humanist circles of the time. With his knowledge
of ancient forms and technique, Bigarny could
easily have made a faithful copy after a Roman
model, but, instead, added manifold details and
variations to an antique form, focusing on each
individual part of the work throughout the
creative process. It is perhaps for this reason that
he arguably eschewed frontal symmetry in the
face, though this could be the result of an error in polishing the marble. It is highly unlikely that this
work is a workshop copy made after one of Bigarny’s own models. While the point-to-point technique
was well known in his workshop, the variety of incidental detail throughout the work (the tendrils of
the hair, the drapery folds, the calligraphic lines and volutes that delineate the facial features) point to
the autograph hand of Bigarny himself. Such a level of detail would have been remarkably difficult to
reproduce in a copy, and possibly pointless if such a work were reproduced in multiple copies, to be
used as architectural motifs, for example.

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