Circle of Giuseppe Sanmartino

Circle of GIUSEPPE SANMARTINO (Naples, 1720-1793).
Neapolitan school, ca. 1760.
"Christ on the cross".
Polychrome terracotta.

It presents restoration in one of the fingers of the left hand and a hole in the back.
Measurements: 42 x 30 x 15 cm.
Sculpture of the Neapolitan Settecento, belonging to the circle of Giuseppe Sanmartino, which is appreciated in the extreme anatomical verism and in the plastic force that manages to transmit the recumbent body. We are before a crucified Christ with three nails, but with the lower extremities resting on a base. This allows the sculptor to work the turning of the muscles and knees in an unorthodox way, also detailing the ribs that are palpable under the skin, and the pulse that beats in the veins of the wrists. The extreme detail is characteristic of the Neapolitan school of the period, which achieved great virtuosity in anatomical reproductions, both in marble and in wood or ceramics, as in this case. The hair falls over the wiry, tilted face. The twitching fingers and open palms of the hands underline the drama. Stigmata and stigmata emphasize the pathos characteristic of Neapolitan imagery.
Sanmartino had a long and fruitful career. Some of his creations are exhibited in the Museum of San Martino in Naples.
He is considered one of the greatest artistic personalities of Italian sculpture of the eighteenth century for the sculpture Christ Veiled, made in marble in 1753 for the princely chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà, known as the Sansevero Chapel in Naples. Made from a single block of marble, it is considered a masterpiece of 18th century European sculpture and one of the greatest sculptural masterpieces of all time. The virtuosity of this work has generated the legend that the alchemist Raimondo di Sangro had taught the sculptor, the calcification of the fabrics in marble crystals. Among his admirers was Antonio Canova, who tried to acquire this work and who said he was willing to give ten years of his life "to be the author of this masterpiece".