Spanish school; beginning of the 17th century.

Spanish school; early 17th century.
"Christ".
Carved and polychrome wood.
Presents restorations.
Measurements: 90 x 45 x 18 cm.
Crucifixions and crucifixes have appeared in the history of art and popular culture since before the era of the Roman Empire. Sculptural work of round bulk representing Christ Crucified. The figure of Jesus is shown already dead with a stark anatomy; nailed with four nails; his head slightly tilted to his right side; the large purity cloth, with abundant broken folds, is knotted at his right hip, dropping one of its ends. The head is oval in shape, with long, wavy hair, which falls over his right shoulder, with a crown of thorns braided in large skeins on his forehead, closed eyes, almost straight eyebrows, long nose, small mouth and a sharp beard. His canon is elongated, the torso of which clearly marks the ribs; and the limbs are rather thin, with the hands tending to close, and the feet crossed.
Stylistically the work is reminiscent of models created by the Renaissance painter and sculptor Gaspar Becerra Padilla. He was born in Baeza although he went to Rome in 1545 and studied with Giorgio Vasari, who helped to paint the vestibule of the Palazzo della Cancelleria. He worked with Daniele da Volterra in the church of Trinità dei Monti, where, in 1555, he painted a 'Nativity'. In 1551 Prince Philip of Spain donated funds to commission Becerra to provide a gold tabernacle for San Giacomo degli Spagnoli, the Spanish national church in Rome. In 1556 Becerra returned to Spain and settled in Saragossa for a time. Philip II employed him extensively and decorated many of the rooms of the palace in Madrid with frescoes. He also painted altarpieces for several of the churches, most of which have since been destroyed. In 1562 he completed the altarpiece for the altar of the Convent of the Descalzas Reales, which was considered his masterpiece. His fame as a sculptor almost surpassed that of a painter. One of his finest works was a magnificent figure of the Virgin Mary, which was destroyed. Isabella of Valois also commissioned from him a statue of Our Lady of Solitude in the chapel of the Order of the Minims in the convent of Our Lady of Victory. The high altar of Astorga Cathedral (1558) is considered a masterpiece of Spanish Renaissance sculpture.

Among his pupils were Miguel Barroso, who worked in Toledo in 1585 and, after becoming royal painter in 1589, painted some frescoes at El Escorial; Bartolomé del Río Bernuís; Francisco López and Jerónimo Vázquez.