{"id":4292,"date":"2019-12-27T10:10:24","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T09:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/juan-martinez-montanes-o-el-dios-de-la-madera\/"},"modified":"2020-05-08T17:30:20","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T15:30:20","slug":"juan-martinez-montanes-the-god-of-the-wood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/juan-martinez-montanes-the-god-of-the-wood\/","title":{"rendered":"Juan Mart\u00ednez Monta\u00f1es, the God of the wood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3>Baroque sculpture in the Fine Arts Museum of Seville (November 2019-March 2020)  <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The subtitle of this exhibition is <strong>&#8220;Teacher of Teachers&#8221;<\/strong> and this is true, since we must not forget that his art was inherited by sculptors such as Juan de Mesa or Francisco Antonio Ruiz Gij\u00f3n, authors of the Christs of the Gran Poder or el Cachorro who can be contemplated in the famous processions of Holy Week in Seville.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> But our protagonist of today was the called already in his time <strong>&#8220;God of the Wood&#8221;<\/strong>. Juan Martinez Monta\u00f1\u00e9s was born in a town near Ja\u00e9n in 1568. At that time the most important artistic center in the south of the Iberian Peninsula was Seville, so Juan Mart\u00ednez went to the capital of Andalusia to work on his sculptures. Here he could have numerous commissions from the convents and churches that flooded the city. His religious sculptures are splendid examples of naturalism and realism. The San Juan Evangelista, San Juan Bautista, Immaculate Concepcion, Christs and Children Jesus even today, 400 years later, surprise us for their quality and mastery, it does not surprise us therefore that in their time he was considered the <strong>&#8220;God of the Wood&#8221;<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-tDfM87FxDs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>Now we have a magnificent opportunity to see 57 of his best works gathered in an exhibition of the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Why the sculptures where made in wood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"845\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-madera.jpg\" alt=\"Por qu\u00e9 la madera | Mart\u00ednez Monta\u00f1\u00e9s\" class=\"wp-image-4282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-madera.jpg 845w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-madera-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-madera-768x409.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-madera-705x375.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 845px) 100vw, 845px\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In Italy the sculptures were made mostly in marble, this was due to the abundance of this material in that country. The best sculptures by Michelangelo or Bernini were made in a beautiful white marble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, in the Iberian Peninsula, it was originally worked in terracotta or baked clay, in this material was the San Jer\u00f3nimo de Pietro Torrigiano of the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville, an Italian sculptor, colleague of Michelangelo, who introduced naturalism in Spain but using a local material like terracotta.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gradually this was passed to the wood, <strong>which allowed sculpting with greater detail and was a stronger material, not as heavy as marble<\/strong>, of a more moderate weight and which allowed these sculptures to be carried in procession. Those religious processions that began to become popular in these lands.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Technics for painting the sculptures whith gold<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The wooden sculptures were \u201cestofado\u201d and polychrome. \u201cEstofado\u201d is a very difficult technique that consists of applying gold leaf (also silver or copper leaf) to the wood, some sheets of metal that print this golden hue on the surfaces on which it is placed. Then, with  different pigments these sheets are covered, and finally by scraping these last layers, drawings are made and colored (polychrome) exposing the underlying gold. <strong>As you can imagine it is a very expensive procedure but with a brilliant result, great color and artistic richness.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Normally the sculptor did not deal with this stage but it was carried out by another artist. Often the sculptures of Monta\u00f1\u00e9s were polychromed by Francisco Pacheco, painter, writer and teacher, best known for being Diego Vel\u00e1zquez&#8217;s father-in-law.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>What are the best sculptures by Mart\u00ednez Monta\u00f1\u00e9s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>His most important works in Andalusian baroque sculpture can be seen in the Fine Arts museum exhibition.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Christ of Clemency<\/strong> was always considered one of his greatest works. He did it for the Priest Vazquez de Leca, a rich religious who ordered him to have it for his personal devotion. Later on this sculpture would be exposed in the Cathedral of Seville. This work of 1.80 meters, of surprisingly exact details that show us the muscles and veins of a Crucified Christ, was a role model for all the sculptors of later generations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"845\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-cieguita.jpg\" alt=\"La Cieguita | Mart\u00ednez Monta\u00f1\u00e9s\" class=\"wp-image-4285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-cieguita.jpg 845w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-cieguita-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-cieguita-768x409.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-cieguita-705x375.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 845px) 100vw, 845px\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do not forget your other key work, the so-called La Cieguecita, \u201cthe Little Blind\u201d<\/strong>. This is a sculpture that represents the Immaculate Conception, 1.64 m high. His eyes with a low and modest look that give an impression of being blind are the origin of his nickname. This sculpture was quickly famous for its great beauty and delicacy. Its serene face and harmonious proportions make it one of the most accomplished works of its author. The Immaculate was a very repeated theme in both painting and sculpture, accompanied by its usual elements such as the crown of twelve stars, the blue mantle, the tread on the crescent moon or the heads of angels at its feet that propel it towards the heaven.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Monta\u00f1\u00e9s also worked for the most influential Sevillian monasteries of the time. For San Isidoro del Campo, a Hieronymite monastery on the outskirts of Seville made a splendid altarpiece in which are the praying sculptures of Guzm\u00e1n el Bueno and his wife Maria Alonso Coronel, founders of the medieval monastery. Also San Juan Evangelista and a surprisingly realistic San Jer\u00f3nimo Penitente.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Child Jesus of the church of the Holy Sacrament, the Christ of Passion or the San Cristobal from the Church of the Saviour are also among his masterpieces.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Diego Vel\u00e1zquez and Juan Mart\u00ednez Monta\u00f1\u00e9s, contemporary artists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"845\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-bellas-artes.jpg\" alt=\"Juan Mart\u00ednez Monta\u00f1es, o el Dios de la madera\" class=\"wp-image-4297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-bellas-artes.jpg 845w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-bellas-artes-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-bellas-artes-768x409.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-bellas-artes-705x375.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 845px) 100vw, 845px\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the contemporary artists of the sculptor were the writer Cervantes and the painters Rubens or Velazquez himself.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are lucky to have a portrait of Martinez Monta\u00f1\u00e9s made by the latter. Diego Velazquez, somewhat younger than the sculptor, worked in Madrid for King Felipe IV but the fact of being from the same city, Seville, and that they were both artists and frequented the same circles, led him to make a portrait of the \u201cgod of wood\u201d in 1635. In that year the sculptor was called to the Court to make a bust of the king who wanted to send to Florence. That bust, that can be  see in the picture, would be the model for the statue of Philip IV of Spain that adorns the Square of Oriente in Madrid.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Black death of 1649<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"845\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-velazquez-montanes.jpg\" alt=\"Vel\u00e1zquez y Monta\u00f1\u00e9s, artistas contempor\u00e1neos\" class=\"wp-image-4300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-velazquez-montanes.jpg 845w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-velazquez-montanes-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-velazquez-montanes-768x409.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191227-velazquez-montanes-705x375.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 845px) 100vw, 845px\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The catastrophic plague epidemic of Black death this year took the lives of almost half of the Sevillians and among them that of Monta\u00f1es, who was already 81 years old.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his long life he left us amazing sculptures of the highest quality. Luckily we can see them all together today in this interesting exhibition that has its doors open until March 15, 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do not miss it! <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baroque sculpture in the Fine Arts Museum of Seville (November 2019-March 2020) The subtitle of this exhibition is &#8220;Teacher of Teachers&#8221; and this is true, since we must not forget that his art was inherited by sculptors such as Juan de Mesa or Francisco Antonio Ruiz Gij\u00f3n, authors of the Christs of the Gran Poder [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[61,62,63],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4292"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4486,"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions\/4486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}