Escuela española - Sculpture, Antiguo Calvario - 53 cm - Wood

Calvary with the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Saint John the Evangelist

Origin: Spain
School: Spanish
Period: First half of the 18th century
Circa: 1700–1750
Material: Carved wood with remnants of polychromy
Style: Baroque
Iconography: Calvary – Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Saint John the Evangelist
Overall dimensions: 53 × 35 × 12 cm
Mary Magdalene with the cross: 53 cm in height
Virgin Mary: 23 cm in height
Saint John the Evangelist: 23 cm in height
DESCRIPTION
An interesting sculptural group of Calvary in the Spanish school, made during the first half of the 18th century, entirely carved in wood and originally conceived as a representation of the Crucifixion.
The composition preserves the three figures that traditionally accompany Christ on Golgotha. On the left appears the Virgin Mary, depicted with hands joined and a withdrawn, modest attitude; in the center, Mary Magdalene, kneeling and intensely embracing the wooden cross; and on the right, Saint John the Evangelist, with an elevated gaze and hands folded over the chest.
The figure of Mary Magdalene embracing the cross stands out, a representation charged with drama and emotion, characteristic of Baroque religious sensibility. The figures show careful carving of faces, hair, and garments, with marked folds that give movement and expressiveness to the whole.
The base is worked to simulate the rocky terrain of Golgotha, integrating the three figures around the central beam.
Currently the wood is mostly visible; however, on the back side important traces of old polychromy can be seen, especially blues, greens, and reddish tones on the garments. These traces allow us to appreciate that the group was originally polychromed.
The Christ who originally presided over the cross is not preserved, leaving the ensemble as a testimony of an old devotional composition suitable for domestic, conventual, or small chapel use.
It shows wear, losses of polychromy, ancient signs of wood-boring insects, and other age-related marks, elements coherent with a Spanish sculptural work of approximately three centuries in age.
Spain, first half of the 18th century.