Title
Saint John the Baptist
sculptor
Rueda, Esteban de [attributed to] (Toro, 1585 - Toro, 1626)
Generic classification
SculptureObject
SculptureDate
ca. 1620Century
First quarter of the 17th c.Cultural context / style
BaroqueDimensions
65 3/4 × 18 3/4 × 45 1/4 inMaterial
WoodIconography / Theme
San Juan BautistaProvenance
Possible origin from Castile and Leon (Castilla y León, Possible origin from Castile and Leon, Spain)Current location
Los Angeles County Museum (Los Ángeles, United States)Inventory Number in Current Collection
M.2016.117Object history
This sculpture was attributed to Esteban de Rueda in 2016 by Luis Vasallo Toranzo. Although the provenance of the piece is unknown, Vasallo considers that it may have been part of an altarpiece, since it is not completely carved in round bulk. He also suggests that the altarpiece may have included the relief of the Baptism of Christ, which is currently in the National Museum of Sculpture (Valladolid). It also relates the work to others such as the Guardian Angel ( Church of Santo Tomás Cantuariese, Toro) or San Juan Bautista (Parish Church of Benafarces, Valladolid). All this has made it possible to place the origin of the sculpture in the Castilian environment around 1620 (Marandel, 2019).
Similarly, it is not known when the piece left the country. However, in the third quarter of the 20th century it was in the private collection of Antonio Manuel Miranda, in Lisbon. Subsequently, the sculpture was offered for sale at Coll & Cortés art gallery, in Madrid, in 2016. That same year it was acquired by the Ahmanson Foundation, who gave it to the Los Angeles County Museum.
Description
This sculpture, which is preserved in good condition, represents Saint John the Baptist, at whose feet rests the Agnus Dei. Although Sebastián Ducete and Esteban de Rueda worked together (Nieto and Casaseca, 1976; Vasallo, 1998; Vasallo, 2004; Vasallo, 2009), there are certain characteristics that allow us to differentiate them. In this sense, Rueda is credited with the draperies with movement: "the shagreened treatment of the draperies is reduced, which is replaced by wider forms of extensive smooth areas individualized from more rounded and less angular folds" (Vasallo, 2004). This author attributes the change to Esteban de Rueda's interest in capturing chiaroscuro, something he borrowed from early 17th century painting (Marandel, 2019).
Locations
ca. 1620
ca. 1973 - ca. 2016
private collection
Antonio Manuel Miranda, Lisboa (Portugal) *
2016
dealer/antiquarian
Coll & Cortés, Madrid (Spain) *
ca. 2016
2016 - present
Bibliography
- MARANDEL, Patrice (2019): "Esteban de Rueda", vol. 3, en Gifts of European Art from The Ahmanson Foundation, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Ángeles, pp. 98-99.
- MARTÍN GONZÁLEZ, Juan José (1971): Escultura barroca castellana, Fundación Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid, pp. 15-19.
- NIETO, José Ramón y CASASECA, Antonio (1976): "Aportaciones al estudio de Sebastián de Ucete y Esteban de Rueda", nº 42, Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología: BSAA.
- URREA, Jesús (1982): "Los Maestros de Toro: nuevos datos y obras", nº 48, BSAA, pp. 243-252.
- VASALLO TORANZO, Luis (2004): Sebastián Ducete y Esteban de Rueda: escultores entre el manierismo y el barroco, Instituto de Estudios Zamoranos «Florián de Ocampo», Zamora.
- VASALLO TORANZO, Luis (1998): "Esteban de Rueda tras la muerte de Sebastián Ducete", nº 64, Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología: BSAA.
- VASALLO TORANZO, Luis (2009): "Esteban de Rueda", en The Mystery of faith: an eye on Spanish sculpture 1550-1750, Matthiesen Fine Art, Londres.
Record manager
Isabel Escalera FernándezCitation:
Isabel Escalera Fernández, "Saint John the Baptist" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/413
Saint John the Baptist
