Saint Peter; Castilian School, 17th century

Saint Peter; Castilian School, 17th century
Carved, gilded, and polychromed wood
Shows some loss; inactive woodworm marks
Measurements: 43 x 19.5 x 15.5 cm.

A full-relief sculpture depicting Saint Peter standing, with a bearded face and short hair, characteristics typical of his usual iconography. He wears a greenish tunic and a wide, gilded outer cloak, with folds falling to his feet. The right hand, which is missing, would have rested on his chest in a gesture of holding a lost attribute—likely the keys—while the left arm, also missing, would originally have held another iconographic element, perhaps a book. The figure rests on a rectangular pedestal with a beveled edge.

The treatment of the drapery, the stylized form of the figure, and the facial features—which have Mannerist roots—allow us to associate this carving with the Romanist aesthetic that dominated Castilian sculpture during the transition from the 16th to the 17th century, which stemmed from the introduction of Italianate models into Spain by sculptors such as Juan de Juni and Gaspar Becerra, and was continued by Castilian and Valladolid workshops well into the 17th century.