SAINT ALOYSIUS DE GONZAGA (TO DRESS UP). POLYCHROMED WOOD, ETC. SPANISH SCHOOL, 18TH CENTURY.
Antiques - Sculpture
Reference: ZE427
Saint Louis Gonzaga, vestment room. Polychrome wood, etc. Spanish school, 18th century. A polychrome wood carving depicting a beardless young man on a rectangular base. His body is black, while his face, neck, hands, and part of his arms are polychrome. This treatment is common in sculptures intended to be dressed (note also the arms, each articulated at two points—shoulder and elbow). An antique metal piece is attached to one ankle, and two nails are in the feet, suggesting an earlier reinforcement and the possibility that the sculpture was carried in processions (another piece with screws is present in the head). As is typical of this type of work in the Spanish school since the Baroque period, the eyes are made of glass. Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (Castiglione delle Stiviere, March 9, 1568 – Rome, June 21, 1591) was an Italian Jesuit priest canonized in 1726 by Benedict XIII, who declared him patron saint of youth. While in the service of Philip II, he married a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elisabeth of Valois. He also served at the Spanish court as a page to Prince Diego, the monarch's heir, but ultimately ceded his rights as firstborn son to his brother to enter the Society of Jesus (novitiate in Rome in 1583), despite his father's efforts to prevent it. He died after tending to plague victims in this Italian city. He is depicted as a young man dressed in a black cassock and surplice or as a young page. His attributes are a lily, representing his innocence; a cross, representing his piety and sacrifice; and a skull, representing his early death. and a rosary, referring to his devotion to the Virgin Mary.
5.500 €
