Escuela española; S. XVII

Spanish school; 17th century.
"Pilgrim".
Carved and polychromed wood.
It presents faults in the polychromy and in the carving.
Measurements: 94 x 34 x 30 cm.
Round sculpture whose faults do not allow us to elucidate any iconographic attribute that defines the figure. From his tunic, his cloak, and his position, which seems active, with his arms stretched forward, it is probable that the work represents the figure of a pilgrim, linked to the Christian religion.
Baroque sculpture is one of the most authentic and personal examples of our art, because its conception and form of expression arose from the people and their deepest feelings. With the economy of the State in ruins, the nobility in decline and the high clergy burdened with heavy taxes, it was the monasteries, parishes and confraternities of clerics and laymen who promoted its development, with the works sometimes being financed by popular subscription. Sculpture was thus obliged to express the prevailing ideals in these environments, which were none other than religious ones, at a time when Counter-Reformation doctrine demanded a realistic language from art so that the faithful could understand and identify with what was represented, and an expression endowed with an intense emotional content in order to increase the fervour and devotion of the people. Religious themes were therefore the preferred subject matter of Spanish sculpture during this period, which in the early decades of the century was based on a priority interest in capturing the natural world, gradually intensifying throughout the century in the depiction of expressive values.

Presenta faltas en la policromía y en la talla.