Novo-Hispanic school or Guatemala; end of the XVIII century.

Novo-Hispanic school or Guatemala; end of the XVIII century.
"Christ".
Carved and polychrome wood.
Presents slight restorations.
Measurements: 74 x 52 x 12 cm.
Round sculpture made of carved and polychrome wood. The sculpture represents the crucifixion of Christ, for which the figure has been carved and polychromed with great dramatism, seeking to transmit to the faithful the suffering of Christ, his physical pain, through the bloody depiction of his wounds. Likewise, the constitution of Christ transmits a famished sensation of weakness, which is reinforced by the extremely marked and elongated dimensions of his arms and the rest of his anatomy. The polychromy seeks naturalism in the flesh tones, and at the same time emphasizes the blood flowing from the wounds in this dramatic and naturalistic sense. The piece is very reminiscent of the work of the Museum of the Central Bank of Ecuador, the recumbent Christ, attributed to Manuel Chili.
Manuel Chili known as Caspicara meaning "wooden face," was an Ecuadorian sculptor who exemplified the Quito School movement in the 18th century Andes. His major religious works, characterized by polychrome wood sculptures in an elegant Spanish Baroque style, are preserved in the Cathedral of Quito and the Church of San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador, and in Popayán, Colombia. His work was rediscovered in 1791 and championed by Eugenio Espejo, then the country's leading intellectual. Caspicara was born into an indigenous family in Quito around 1723. Among his predecessors was Lucas Barrionuevo (died 1594) and among his mentors was Bernardo de Legarda (. As a sculptor, he worked in both wood and marble, always within the predominant baroque style and with a religious motif. He grouped figures in a way that evokes both painting and sculpture. His technique of representation, especially of the human anatomy reached great detail, expressiveness and precision.