Page 68 - The mystery of faith

JERÓNIMO FRANCISCO GARCÍA
AND MIGUEL JERÓNIMO GARCÍA,
CALLED THE ‘HERMANOS’ GARCÍA

(Granada c. 1580 – 1634?)

3. Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness (1625)

Terracotta, polychromed
34.5 x 26.5 x 11 cm (approx. 13 ½ x 10 ½ x 4 ¼ in.)
Dated on a small plaque on the lower left, incised into the clay: 1625

4. Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness (1628)

Terracotta, polychromed (figure), tinted wax (rocks), wood (vitrine)
42 x 37 x 14 cm (approx. 16 ½ x 14 ½ x 5 ½ in.)

Dated on the verso, incised into the clay: Abril/ 1628/ 20 mayo

Saint John, known as the Baptist or El Precursor, the preparer of Christ’s path to becoming the
Redeemer, was in fact his cousin. He is traditionally represented as a youthful hermit, either
living in the Judean desert and testifying to the faithful of the imminent arrival of their Saviour,
or in the act of baptizing the faithful, or even Christ himself, in the River Jordan. He is also often
represented as the Infant Baptist, a rustic child, dressed in skins, holding a cruciform staff, and
accompanied by a lamb, the Agnus Dei. Because John was martyred by beheading, Baroque sculptors
often entertained the more macabre tastes of some of their patrons by depicting the saint as a
disembodied head presented on a charger, but this iconography is somewhat rarer.

While the tenets of the Council of Trent and its subsequent synods decreed that religious narratives and
dogma should be clear, vivid, and, above all, immediately recognizable,1 painters and sculptors often
looked to religious apocrypha for inspiration. Although the Church did not encourage this practice –
these ‘false’ gospels had, after all been rejected to keep the faithful focused on the pure dogma of the
canon gospels – certain saints, especially the very popular John the Baptist, were reassessed and found
fresh interpretation. Sculpted images of the Baptist enjoyed pride of place within the main altarpieces
of Baroque churches, monasteries and the side chapels of convent churches, largely due to the saint’s
increasing identity as El Precursor. John was also seen as the protector of eremite orders, such as the
Carthusians and the Jeromites. Additionally, paired with Saint John the Evangelist, his image also
became associated with the growing cult of the Virgin Mary.

The New Testament does not include a specific account of the Baptist’s martyrdom, but several passages
emphasize his role as Christ’s forebear, and his life in the Judean desert. According to Saint Matthew
and Saint Mark, John dressed primitively in rough camel’s hair cinched at the waist with a leather
thong, and subsisted on locusts and wild honey.2 The Gospel according to Mark begins with an account

68