Luis Salvador Carmona

LUIS SALVADOR CARMONA (Valladolid, 1708 - Madrid, 1767).
"Saint John the Baptist.
In carved and polychrome wood. Cross carved and gilded wood.
Attached report issued by Don Alvaro Pascual Chenel.
Provenance: Marquises of Huarte Valencia.
In excellent state of preservation.
Measurements: 77 x 33 x 29 (with base), 88,5 x 33 x 29 cm (with base and cross).

Sculpture of the Infant Saint John the Baptist, made of polychrome wood and glass eyes, with its original base, preserved in excellent condition.

This is an unpublished work of the Spanish court sculptor Luis Salvador Carmona, one of the most important sculptors of the eighteenth century in Spain. Carmona worked most of his life in Madrid, producing religious works for the Court and for numerous churches and convents. His pieces are kept in the Royal Palace, the Prado Museum and the National Sculpture Museum of Valladolid. The Monastery of Santa Paula, in Seville, conserves a sculpture of the Child Saint John by the same author, very similar to the one described here, with the same characteristic treatment of the hair and an extraordinary refinement in the delicate polychromy of the face, which transmits an enveloping sweetness and beauty.

The iconography of this saint, whose devotion reached enormous popularity during the Spanish Baroque, usually represents him barefoot, symbol of humility and simplicity, carrying a cross, with a sweet, innocent and serene expression; sometimes -as in this case- next to a stream, symbol of the Jordan River, where as an adult he will baptize his cousin Jesus. We also have an old photograph from the palace where the piece originated, in which it can be seen that the sculpture was dressed in a sheepskin, now disappeared, one of the traditional attributes of Saint John.

Luis Salvador Carmona began his apprenticeship in the workshop of Juan Villaabrille y Ron, an outstanding Baroque sculptor. There he formed his style, collaborated in various commissions, and then was able to become independent and open his own workshop in 1731. Most of his production focuses on religious imagery, with clear baroque references, although certain neoclassical tendencies can be appreciated. He works the figures giving them an appearance of delicacy, serenity and grace, worrying about the truthful appearance of the human types, although showing them affable and idealized. He gives great importance to the expressive function of the clothes and cloths, which he works with great attention to detail, sometimes using very fine wooden sheets. He continues, in short, with the Castilian sculptural tradition in broad strokes, but his pieces gain in simplicity, moving away from the grotesque or tragic character that had sometimes predominated in Hispanic Baroque sculpture. Much of his production was made for Madrid, where the sculptor had his workshop. However, the success and notoriety of his work led to its dispersion throughout Spain. Part of this fame is due to the work of his nephews Manuel and Juan Antonio, who reproduced some of his sculptures in engravings, increasing their diffusion.