Spanish school of the 16th century.

Spanish school of the 16th century.
"The Four Evangelists".
Carved and polychrome wood.
They show wear and lack of polychrome. Need restoration.
Measurements: 25 x 12 x 10 cm (the largest).

This group of Renaissance carvings that condense with expressive sobriety and compositional rigor the attributes of the Spanish Renaissance. Each Evangelist appears seated, in a recollected attitude, holding the book of the Gospels, sign of their divine mission as witnesses and narrators of the life of Christ. The faces, modeled with deep sensitivity, reveal inner serenity and reflective contemplation: three of them have carefully sculpted beards, a sign of spiritual maturity, while one (probably St. John) is beardless, in correspondence with the iconographic tradition that represents him as the youngest and closest to Christ.

The figures are individualized not only by their physiognomy, but also by their differentiated gestures: one bends over the book and writes with concentration, another points to a passage with his finger, capturing our attention towards the sacred content, a third turns towards a winged child, symbol of the Evangelist Matthew, establishing a tacit dialogue between the human and the divine.

The robes, carved with a naturalistic will, fall in wide folds, revealing the sculptor's technical mastery in the treatment of the material and his attention to the plausible draping, influenced by the Italian models that circulated in the peninsula.

Traditional symbols discreetly accompany each figure: the eagle of St. John, the bull of St. Luke, the winged lion of St. Mark and the angel or child of St. Matthew. These creatures, inspired by the apocalyptic vision of Ezekiel and the Apocalypse of St. John, underline the celestial dimension of their message.