Francisco Salzillo Circle; c.1700

Circle of FRANCISCO SALZILLO (Murcia, 1707- 1783); c. 1700.
"Saint. Reliquary bust".
Carved wood, polychrome and stewed.
Measurements: 39 x 19 x 16 cm.
Bust of carved and polychrome wood representing a bearded saint, of which we only appreciate the bust in whose chest is a small room to place a relic. Iconographically it does not carry any attribute with which it can be identified so it is understood that it is a saint due to the sacred sense of the piece.this type of reliquaries were somewhat common from the Gothic period, usually mentioned as "testas" in the contemporary documentation to its realization and used to contain relics of the head.
Due to the technical and aesthetic characteristics of the work, a link can be established with the artistic influence of the master Francisco Salzillo, who was a Spanish sculptor of the 18th century, considered today as one of the most important of that century and as one of the most outstanding figures of the Murcian school of sculpture. He was dedicated to religious work, making sculptures as well as processional steps and nativity scenes, reflecting a transitional style from Baroque to Rococo and Neoclassicism, and was trained in the workshop of his father, the Italian sculptor Nicolás Salzillo, and had to take care of it when Nicolás died in 1727, when Francisco was twenty years old. Although he hardly ever left Murcia (there is only one documented trip to Cartagena in 1755, and he refused the invitation of the Count of Floridablanca to go to Madrid), he achieved fame and recognition at a national level, carrying out a large number of commissions. He participated in the foundation, in 1777, of the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Murcia, which served to create, two years later, the Patriotic School of Drawing (where he was director), and his work is currently preserved in some important private collections, as well as in institutions such as the Salzillo Museum of Murcia, the Museum of the Cathedral of Murcia, the National Museum of Sculpture in Valladolid, etc.The Murcian school of sculpture was born in the 18th century, driven by the economic growth of the region, around the figure of Francisco Salzillo, gathering Mediterranean and especially Italian influences through the art of the Nativity Scene, which was introduced and developed in Spain in this century. Through the Murcian school, the novelties of European Rococo were introduced in Spain, which were incorporated by Murcian masters such as Salzillo to the popular feeling typical of Spanish imagery.