"Saint John the Baptist". Carved, polychromed and gilded wooden sculpture. Anonymous. Northern European Master from the Alejo de Vahía circle. Circa 1500.
93 x 30 x 26,5 cm.
This extremely interesting carved and polychromed sculpture depicting Saint John the Baptist must have been carved by someone originally from Northern Europe. The saint is pointing to the Agnes Dei, which is one of the most habitual iconographies related to him. The saint stands, pointing the index finger of his right hand towards the Lamb of God which rests on the book he holds in his left hand. Contrary to what normally tends to occur in the baroque, which is to depict the saint as dressed only in the camel-skin tunic, to which a cloak falling from his shoulder can be added, in this case the anonymous gothic sculptor presents us with the Baptist dressed in luxurious clothing, richly polychromed and gilded, and also the aforementioned tunic is made from an exotic animal skin, the head of which can be seen by the saint’s feet, an anecdotal detail which adds to the intrinsic interest of the piece.
The anonymous Northern European sculptor who worked this piece has a style which is close to Alejo de Vahía’s (ca.1450-ca.1515), possibly the most prominent Spanish gothic master in Tierra de Campos -a county which covers territory from the provinces of Palencia, Valladolid, Zamora and Leon-, while many of its stylistic features are common to other sculptors from the north of Europe. We refer to, for example, the significant stiffness of the body or the conventionalism in the expression on his face, which feigns a grimace.
The elements that bring it closest to Vahía, whose style presents a series of features present in the workshops of Limburg, the Lower Rhine and Westfalia, are the outlined anatomy, the long and bony fingers, the oval-shaped head, the way of arranging the hair and beard through large, wavy and symmetrical interwoven ringlets and locks, the eyes falling towards the sides, the sharp nose and the straight mouth with thin lips. There are also certain similarities in the way of sculpting the folds of the clothing, through trapezoidal pleats and soft folds, which give the piece a certain hardness and geometrical aspect. It is to Alejo de Vahía precisely that five images with certain similarities to this one are attributed. They include those kept in the Frederic Marès Museum in Barcelona -which possibly could be that documented for the main altar of Palencia Cathedral-, in the Gómez Moreno collection in Granada, in the church of Santa María de Castromocho (Palencia), at the premises of the Penitential Confraternity of the Santo Sepulcro in Palencia, and at the Diocesan and Cathedral Museum of Valladolid -which came from the church of Saint Mary in Bolaños de Campos, Valladolid.
This is most certainly a piece of high-quality carving which could have been sculpted by a maestro from within Alejo de Vahía’s most immediate circle.
We would like to thank Javier Baladrón, doctor in History of Art, for identifying and cataloguing this piece.