Valladolid,
She was born in Seville in 1652, died in Madrid just over half a century later and was, under the reign of Charles II, the only artist to become a royal sculptor. In a flourishing autumn in terms of exhibitions dedicated to polychrome wood sculpture in Spain (those at the Prado Museum and the Ages of Man Foundation in the Cathedral of Valladolid coincide in time), the National Museum of Sculpture dedicates finally an anthology of Luisa Roldán that places her in the context of her time, accompanied by paintings, engravings and sculptures by authors who were contemporaries, from Palomino to Pedro de Mena, through Lucas Jordán, Valdés Leal, José de Mora and Nicolás de Bussy, and is also the opportunity to exhibit recent acquisitions from this center, which now has thirty-three of their works in its collection. It will be the case of a bust of the aforementioned monarch or the Magdalena Transit; We will also be able to verify the fruits of the restoration to which the Parade of the Three Wise Menwhich is now shown to the public for the first time since its purchase in 2017 (and which incorporates the Wizard King of Tarshish as an originality).
There are many institutions that have lent pieces for this occasion; It is the first monographic exhibition of an artist in that center and the tour takes into account the context that made her success possible and the typologies and models on which she was nourished, from her first training in the workshop of her father, Pedro Roldán, until she achieved recognition. by Palomino, who described it as eminent sculptoror by the anonymous author who wanted to engraving one of his most interesting pieces: Nazarene of Sisante. Later, other studies would link their creations to those minor and delicate arts theoretically typical of their sex and their time; The incorporation of his figure into academic research would not occur, in fact, until a century ago: when Elena Amat, in 1927, dedicated her doctoral work to him, which in any case remained unpublished.
The father’s workshop The Roller In Seville it was not only the place where Luisa learned, but the most prominent in that city in the second half of the 17th century; the workshop from which Bernini’s influence would spread in Andalusia mediated by the Flemish sculptor José de Arce. There the artists had the opportunity to learn from each other in the process of manufacturing the pieces, which were carried out above all in the aforementioned polychrome wood, due to its possibilities of vividness, and in very diverse formats. There were many that were used for processional purposes or altarpieces.
She could not attend the Murillo Academy because she was a woman, but in that parental workshop she was able to pay attention to the concerns of some regulars, such as the aforementioned Valdés Leal, who was a friend of the family; a family, by the way, in which not only father and daughter sculpted: one of their sisters, María Josefa, was also a sculptor, like her nephew Pedro Duque Cornejo, while another, Francisca, was a polychrome artist; His work is witnessed in this exhibition in Valladolid. And in the same workshop she met her husband, once again a sculptor and co-worker in part of her production: Luis Antonio de los Arcos.
In the 1670s and the first half of the 1680s, the two remained working in Seville, although given the norms of the time, only his name appeared on the contracts. His compositions from that time still owe a lot to his father’s style, from which he would progressively break away to consolidate a personal language – never far away, of course, from the Sevillian grace in the treatment of childhood and family themes – and to adapt to the commissions. defendants. One of the most relevant of that time was the processional complex for the Brotherhood of the Exaltation (1678-1682), where Roldán already gave evidence of his good handling in the treatment of the human figure and the thoroughness of his reliefs. That work also stands out for the striking nature of its polychrome.
Due to his prestige, he received some commissions beyond Seville: the hospital order of Sanlúcar de Barrameda asked him for a dress image of Saint John of God that would be inspired by the portrait of its founder. It is possible that others had to do with nativity scenes: they achieved great success among the society of that time, and Luisa developed a special skill in creating those ephemeral montages with a multitude of figures, of which her father was a specialist, as she already pointed out. Ceán Bermúdez (not many survive from this time, hence the false impression that they did not triumph until the following century due to Neapolitan projection).
The wonderful Birth and the Ride that we can see in Valladolid are made up of two dozen figures made of cedar wood and richly polychrome; He dressed that original king of Tarshish according to the Spanish fashion of the 16th century. It is quite likely that it was precisely in Cádiz, a city then identified with the capital of Tartessos, where he carried out this work, which could perhaps have been donated to some official of the Court in Madrid.
In the early 1680s, the work of The Roller had already achieved significant expansion (recently it has been attributed a San Francisco from Huévar or a Saint Anthony for Sauzal, Tenerife), but in Cádiz she continued to be especially loved: those responsible for the Cathedral commissioned images for the Holy Week Monument and the Town Hall, below, carvings of the patrons of this city, Saints Servando and Germán. The collaboration of her husband and her brother-in-law, Tomás de los Arcos, is documented; the latter polychrome of quite a few of his works.
That good moment led him to try his luck in Madrid, where Hispanic and foreign artists then yearned for recognition and clientele and it was relatively easy to access the funds of religious institutions and collecting families. She managed, as we said, to take over the position of royal sculptor, usually vacant compared to the always busy position of painter (José de Mora had previously held it, but an author as relevant as Pedro de Mena did not get it).
One of the reasons for this success was the Court’s inclination for sculpture in small format and in terracotta, a material that Roldán also used, especially in pieces intended to decorate palaces and oratories. These types of compositions had already been made by Giovanni Battista Morelli, Nicolás de Bussy or Antonio Ferreira, present in this exhibition; Neapolitan sculptures in polychrome wood of a size suitable for easy transport were also highly valued, such as those by Giacomo Colombo or Nicola Fumo, who introduced Italian models here. He drank from them The Roller when raising his magnificent Saint Michael (1692), of monumental format, which was then destined for El Escorial and which today we can see in the Gallery of Royal Collections.
It was that same year, 1692, when she received that title of chamber sculptor, dedicating herself in these years to the creation of small terracotta groups with very careful polychromy, dedicated to devotional matters (virgin sewing, The andducation of the Virgin -a theme very dear to Charles II- or the Baby Jesus with Saint John the Baptist); We will also see a very deep-rooted image of the Virgin of Atocha. He did not leave aside wood, however: he made his Nazarene Children or his San Fernando kingthe latter inspired by a Valdés Leal model. Lucas Jordán would be the starting point for other compositions.
Philip V renewed Luisa in office and her new creations would maintain the style of the previous ones (dating them is therefore difficult). The texts of María Jesús de Ágreda would be the basis of Virgin girl with Saint Joachim and Saint Anne or the Birth with Saint Michael and Saint Gabriela theme that was also commissioned, in painting, to Jordán, while he showed his expressive desire in clay in Magdalena Transit or, in wood, in a mourner Ecce Homo. The artist died at the beginning of the year 1706 and, a few days later, she would be appointed member of the Academy of San Lucca in Rome.
It is worth stopping in the last room of this (very busy) exhibition to learn details of some of the restorations carried out on his work and the data that these interventions, in support and color, can provide.
“Luisa Roldán. Royal sculptor”
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE
C/ Cadenas de San Gregorio, s/n
Valladolid
From November 29, 2024 to March 9, 2025
