Francisco Salzillo Circle

Circle of FRANCISCO SALZILLO (Murcia, 1707- 1783); c. 1700.
"Saint Anthony of Padua".
Carved and polychrome wood.
It has an old base from a later period.
Measurements: 32 x 49 cm (saint); 23 x 17 cm (child); 38 x 22 cm (base).
Wooden sculpture carved in round bulk representing St. Anthony of Padua with the Child Jesus in his arms. The Saint wears a Franciscan habit and holds the bible that serves as a support for Jesus himself. The Child has been carved with great naturalism since his posture reveals the attitude of an innocent infant who tries to reach with his hand the face of the saint although he does not look directly at him. The bust of Saint Anthony is conceived as a counterpoint to the dynamic figure of the little Christ, thus serving as a stable base. St. Anthony of Padua is, after St. Francis of Assisi, the most popular of the Franciscan saints. He is represented as a beardless young man with a large monastic tonsure, dressed in the common habit of the Franciscans.
By the technical and aesthetic characteristics of the work it is possible to establish a link with the artistic influence of the master Francisco Salzillo in fact the work reminds to a great extent to the sculpture of San Antonio de Padua, work of Salzillo of 1783 is located in the town of Velez Rubio in Almeria. Salzillo was a Spanish sculptor of the eighteenth century, considered today as one of the most important of that century and as one of the most prominent 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. He 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 national fame and recognition, 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 the European Rococo were introduced in Spain, which were incorporated by Murcian masters such as Salzillo to the popular feeling typical of Spanish imagery.