Saint John the Baptist ca. 1620–30 Juan Martínez Montañés Spanish Juan Martínez Montañés was one of the greatest spanish sculptors of the first half of the seventeenth century. Based in Seville, he carved numerous wooden statues and reliefs that were painted and integrated into large altar screens called retablos (English: retables) for churches in his native region or to be shipped to the New World. His forte as an artist was the single figure, standing or seated, usually robust, naturally posed, and richly robed. Somewhat defensively, he gave his reason for this: "As for the appearance of th

Saint John the Baptist ca. 1620–30 Juan Martínez Montañés Spanish Juan Martínez Montañés was one of the greatest spanish sculptors of the first half of the seventeenth century. Based in Seville, he carved numerous wooden statues and reliefs that were painted and integrated into large altar screens called retablos (English: retables) for churches in his native region or to be shipped to the New World. His forte as an artist was the single figure, standing or seated, usually robust, naturally posed, and richly robed. Somewhat defensively, he gave his reason for this: "As for the appearance of the statues when they are seen away from their settings by those who do not understand or maliciously criticize them, we say that once they are in their places they will be very effective, and if they did not have so much drapery they would look very insignificant when they were put in compartments at a distance."? [1] To modern eyes, his works even when removed from their original contexts have a powerfully sculptural form; but it is important to remember how critical the original church setting was in the artist’s conception. The Museum’s statue of Saint John the Baptist, a rare work by the master in a collection outside Spain or South America, illustrates these points. A mature man with a powerful physique, he wears a short brown tunic cinched with a rope around the waist. A crimson robe patterned with foliage and cherub heads is draped over his shoulder and partially covers the rock formation on which he stands and leans. His left hand rests on the rock while his right reaches across his body to point. This gesture was certainly toward a missing Lamb of God on an altar in the monastery church for which Saint John was made or toward the top of a banderole with the message "Behold the Lamb of God" stuck in the ground by the saint’s left foot (where a hole exists) and rising to his left shoulder. The altar of Saint John the Baptist (1635?–?37) in the Convento de

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