Spanish Carved Wood Santo
St Rocco, Spanish polychrome wood carving circa 1650, the figure stands approx. 93 x 33 cms. The saint is finely rendered in wood with layers of polychrome, splendidly heightened with gilt. He is depicted mid-stride with luxurious locks and beard, leaning on his pilgrims staff (not original) and dressed in a pilgrims knee-length robe with a short cape draped over his shoulders and calf length boots. His hand points to his thigh marked with a plague sore or lesion, at his feet are two holes in the base of the carving that may once have held a small dog. The plinth upon which he stands measures approx. 36 x 38 x 44 cms.
Essay:
St Roch/Rocco the 14th century Catholic saint is celebrated as the patron protector against plagues and epidemics.
He was born to a wealthy merchant family in Montpellier France but chose a life as a hermit and undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. On his journey he became renowned for miraculously curing plague sufferers, victims would pray to him for protection.
He contracted the plague himself in Italy and is believed to have been sustained by a small dog who brought him bread and licked his sores, which helped restore him to health.
His followers were widespread across Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, when the Black Death was at its height, depictions of St Roch are found in Iberian, Italian, French and German art.
Provenance: Property of a Cheltenham family.
St Rocco, Spanish polychrome wood carving circa 1650, the figure stands approx. 93 x 33 cms. The saint is finely rendered in wood with layers of polychrome, splendidly heightened with gilt. He is depicted mid-stride with luxurious locks and beard, leaning on his pilgrims staff (not original) and dressed in a pilgrims knee-length robe with a short cape draped over his shoulders and calf length boots. His hand points to his thigh marked with a plague sore or lesion, at his feet are two holes in the base of the carving that may once have held a small dog. The plinth upon which he stands measures approx. 36 x 38 x 44 cms.
Essay:
St Roch/Rocco the 14th century Catholic saint is celebrated as the patron protector against plagues and epidemics.
He was born to a wealthy merchant family in Montpellier France but chose a life as a hermit and undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. On his journey he became renowned for miraculously curing plague sufferers, victims would pray to him for protection.
He contracted the plague himself in Italy and is believed to have been sustained by a small dog who brought him bread and licked his sores, which helped restore him to health.
His followers were widespread across Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, when the Black Death was at its height, depictions of St Roch are found in Iberian, Italian, French and German art.
Provenance: Property of a Cheltenham family.
