Spanish mannerist school, second third of the 16th century.

Spanish mannerist school, second third of the 16th century.
"Saint John on Calvary".
Carved and polychrome wood.
It presents faults and damages caused by xylophages.
Measurements. 87 x 34 x 23 cm.
The physical and formal characteristics of the represented one indicate us that we are in front of the figure of San Juan, in spite of the fact that some iconographic attribute has not been conserved. However, the posture, with the legs bent and looking upwards, are features that indicate that it is probably a work that belongs to a sculptural ensemble dedicated to the Calvary of Christ. St. John the Evangelist is the apostle of Jesus to whom is attributed the authorship of the fourth Gospel, the four Epistles that bear his name and the book of Revelation. The Gospel of St. John recounts, in detail, various aspects of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and its writing is usually dated between the years 90 and 100. After the resurrection of Jesus, St. John the Evangelist occupied an important position among the disciples of Jesus.
Spanish sculpture of the time reflects perhaps better than other artistic fields this eagerness to return to the classical Greco-Roman world that exalts the individuality of man in his nudes, creating a new style whose vitality surpasses mere copying. Soon the anatomy, the movement of the figures, the compositions with a sense of perspective and balance, the naturalistic play of the folds, the classical attitudes of the figures began to be valued; but the strong Gothic tradition maintains the expressiveness as a vehicle of the deep spiritualistic sense that informs our best Renaissance sculptures. This strong and healthy tradition favors the continuity of religious sculpture in polychrome wood that accepts the formal beauty offered by Italian Renaissance art with a sense of balance that avoids its predominance over the immaterial content that animates the forms. In the first years of the century, Italian works arrived in our lands and some of our sculptors went to Italy, where they learned first hand the new norms in the most progressive centers of Italian art, whether in Florence or Rome, and even in Naples.