Exhibiting Historical Art: Out of the Vault: Stories of People and Things

Juan Alonso Villabrille y Ron

Juan Alonso Villabrille y Ron moved to Madrid in 1686 where he would begin his sculpting career working under Pedro Alonso de los Rios. In one year Villabrille opened his own workshop. His first and only signed and dated piece was a polychromed wooden head of St. Paul. This sculpture was created in 1707 and became very famous with its extraordinary realism. Villabrille’s other pieces include St. Isodore and St. Mary de la Cabeza located on the Toledo Bridge in Madrid and a stone statue of St. Ferdinand in the portal of the Madrid Hospice of St. Ferdinand. Villabrille gained an apprentice named of Luis Salvador Carmona who assisted Villabrille on three stone pieces. Other pieces have also been accredited, but not proven, to Villabrille that are made of polychromed wood. Villabrille’s will indicates that he was married twice and had three sons. Due to Villabrille’s mastery of technique, he is known as one of the most important Spanish Baroque sculptors.  

The wooden statue of St. John the Baptist is thought to have been created around 1717. It was made for the Badajoz Cathedral located in Badajoz of western Spain. This piece eventually joined several exhibitions in the United States including the University of St. Thomas and the Birmingham Art Museum. Vanderbilt University purchased this piece from Victor Spark and is now a part of the permanent collection at Vanderbilt University. 
 

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