José de Cárdenas

JOSÉ DE CÁRDENAS (Seville, late 17th century -1730).
"Shepherds".
Polychrome clay.
They present faults and losses.
One of them has a signature.
Measurements: 18 x 22 x 13 cm; 15 x 24 x 11 cm.
Set of sculptures made of terracotta representing two men lying down. In both cases the faces reflect an enormous naturalism of baroque heritage, and their expressions relate some characters with others, suggesting that originally they were part of a larger set, probably a manger. One of the most consolidated Christmas traditions, which has remained unchanged for centuries. The seventeenth century was the period in which these sculptures were made, becoming the Golden Age of the nativity scene. The figures multiplied, increasing the narrative of the representation and adding all kinds of profane elements, with representations of noble characters in addition to shepherds, innkeepers, shopkeepers, etc. An example of them are these two sculptures in which we can see how one of them holds an instrument, while the other adopts a posture of great expressiveness and originality.
The quality of the figures added to the artist's seal found on one of the sculptures indicates that they are works made by José de Cárdenas, who had experience in the creation of nativity scenes or nativity scenes. An example of this is the set attributed to La Roldana in the Sculpture Museum of Valladolid, where it is known that Cárdenas participated in modeling the horse in 1727. José Cárdenas was a disciple of Pedro Roldán in Seville, whom he tried to imitate in small format and using clay as the main material. He was recognized as already mentioned for his figures for nativity scenes, of which some are preserved in Seville. Following the words of the historian Cean Bérmudez. "He died very poor there in the years of 1730, with the mania of being a knight, which he made everyone aware of with the executions that he always brought with him". Pedro Roldán, who had trained with Alonso de Mena, settled in Seville around 1640, achieving great success and fame there. The cultural richness of Seville led to a greater demand for commissions. This led to the creation of a workshop where a large number of artists, including Cardenas, worked and trained. Roldán's sculpture shows an interest in realistic carving and his influential style was characterized by the search for a new artistic language, moving away from the aesthetics of the masters of the first half of the century such as Montañés, Cano, Mesa and Ribas.