Granada school of the second half of the seventeenth century.

Granada school of the second half of the seventeenth century.
"Magdalene penitent".
Polychrome terracotta.
Measurements: 60 x 53 x 48 cm.

Round sculpture made in terracotta in which the author integrates the figure in a scene impregnated with devotion and repentance. Magdalene rests her arm on a fallen trunk or a stump, and with the other hand holds the skull. The saint, seated on the ground, interlips her lips to the point of showing the line of her teeth. This gives great expressiveness and verism to the face. The eyes also open with surprise, reflecting an illuminating vision that comes from within. The lush arms have been modeled with care and naturalistic will. A foot with graceful toes peeks out from under the draped dress. Formally, the sculpture has been worked following the baroque style of the 17th century, in an exasperated and dramatic attitude, with the long hair that identifies it. The tremendously expressive face is enough by itself to reflect the repentance and the deep dramatism of the saint.

Stylistically, it is clear that this work is strongly influenced by 17th century Baroque models of the Granada school, and not only in the iconography, but also in the model chosen as an influence for it, in the decoration of the clothing, in the coloring, in the features of the face, etc. The realistic reproduction of the details does not detract from the delicacy of the forms. The Granada school, which is strongly influenced by the Renaissance period, included great figures such as Pablo de Rojas, Juan Martínez Montañés (who was trained in the city with the previous one), Alonso de Mena, Alonso Cano, Pedro de Mena, Bernardo de Mora, Pedro Roldán, Torcuato Ruiz del Peral, etc. In general, the school does not neglect the beauty of the images and also follows the naturalism, as usual at the time, but it would always emphasize more the intimate and the recollection in some delicate images that would be somewhat similar to the rest of Andalusian schools in another series of details but that do not usually have the monumentality of the Sevillian ones. The work can be inscribed, specifically, in the stylistic circle of the Mora workshop (José and Diego). One of the most important workshops in Granada in the 17th century. The artistic legacy of this family of image makers, which spanned from the last third of the seventeenth century until the second half of the eighteenth century, was a milestone within the Granada school. Influenced by the work of both Alonso Cano and Pedro de Mena, an influence that led him to create a very personal and characteristic style.