Guatemalan or Novo-Hispanic School; Possibly MANUEL CHILI CASPICARA (Quito, 1720-1796), End of the XVIII century.

Guatemalan or Novo-Hispanic School; Possibly MANUEL CHILI CASPICARA (Quito, 1720-1796), End of the XVIII century.
"The three Marys on Calvary".
Carved and polychrome wood. Vitreous paste eyes.
Measurements: 31 x 16 x 15 cm (larger); 23 x 19 x 18 cm (smaller).
Sculptural group formed by three independent pieces. All of them executed in carved and polychrome wood. The set represents with emotional intensity and formal delicacy the three women who, according to Christian tradition, accompanied Christ at the moment of the crucifixion.
The works stand out for their contained dynamism, the detailed treatment of the faces and hands, and the rich polychromy that accentuates the folds of the cloaks and the mournful expression of the figures. The affective charge of the scene is balanced by a rigorous compositional structure, in which each figure seems to respond to a specific moment of grief, from silent contemplation to the exaltation of lamentation. The stylistic language, profoundly baroque, is intertwined with mestizo elements characteristic of viceregal art, manifesting the synthesis between European tradition and American imaginary following the models of Manuel Chili, as the figures are close in style to the sculptures of Caspicara found in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, which represent the Nativity.
Manuel Chili known as Caspicara which means "wooden face", was an Ecuadorian sculptor who exemplified the Quito School movement in the 18th century Andes. His major religious works, characterized by polychrome wood sculptures in an elegant Spanish Baroque style, are preserved in the Cathedral of Quito and the Church of San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador, and in Popayán, Colombia. His work was rediscovered in 1791 and championed by Eugenio Espejo, then the country's leading intellectual. Caspicara was born into an indigenous family in Quito around 1723. Among his predecessors was Lucas Barrionuevo (died 1594) and among his mentors was Bernardo de Legarda (. As a sculptor, he worked in both wood and marble, always within the predominant baroque style and with a religious motif. He grouped figures in a way that evokes both painting and sculpture. His technique of representation, especially of the human anatomy reached great detail, expressiveness and precision.