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

Spanish Baroque Sculpture

During the eighteenth century, Madrid became a center of Baroque sculpture and art. During the seventeenth century, Spanish art was very isolated from the rest of the world. However, the eighteenth century changed this as the accession of the Bourbon dynasty caused many foreign artists to come in on commission to decorate the new royal palaces. It was also during this time that Spain began to interact more with other cultures and art as the accession of the Bourbon dynasty occurred. Decorative pieces rose in demand among churches and households. However, these pieces stayed within traditional forms of representation. Commissions for this kind of work ranged from prominent households, to royal families, to monumental churches. Decoration was a necessity for this kind of culture as people strained for emotional and religious pieces. This is especially seen in alter pieces in churches across Spain. These works of art contained columns, sculpture, reliefs, among many things to create a sense of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art. These alters were so highly decorated that the viewer gets lost in the message of the piece.

Juan Alonso Villabrille y Ron demonstrated this kind of work throughout his life. His depictions of agonizing saints with extreme realism is very representative of the common art movements occurring across Spain. This is known as the cruelty of martyrdom and is seen in the majority of Villabrille’s works.  His sculptures were characterized by the more traditional form of representation of Catholic figure heads. 
 

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