CHILD JESUS. POLYCROMED WOOD. ATTRIBUTED TO FRANCISCO SALZILLO. 1762.

Child Jesus. Carved and polychromed wood, metal. Attributed to SALZILLO, Francisco (Murcia, 1707-1783), 1762. A polychrome carved wooden sculpture depicting the Christ Child standing, raising his right arm and extending his left arm with his fingers clasped. It rests on a gilded base with scrolls, architectural elements, and vegetation on the front, and a polychrome upper section resembling an earthen floor with stones. The front features a cartouche, likely added after the carving, with the text (F. Salzillo / 1762). Francisco Salzillo y Alcaraz was a sculptor from Murcia who ran the family workshop (his father was an Italian sculptor), in which some of his brothers also participated. Over time, his fame grew, as did the number of commissions. In 1755, he was appointed "Official Sculptor of the City Council of Murcia and Inspector of Painting and Sculpture," director of the Patriotic School of Drawing, and so on. His personal style was clearly evident in his work from 1740 onward, with pieces such as the Pietà for the Servite Confraternity of the parish of San Bartolomé in Murcia. From 1765, with Roque López (his principal disciple) in the workshop, experts generally note a more industrialized production. A change in his work is observed from 1776, incorporating some Neoclassical details (Christ in the Praetorium float in the Casa de Pilatos of the Ecce Homo Confraternity of Orihuela). This Christ Child is very similar to the one preserved in the Frederic Marès Museum in Barcelona, Spain, which dates from between 1750 and 1770 and is considered to belong to the Passion Child type. According to documentation, this Jesus comes from the Rebagliato family: Don Andrés Rebagliato y Pescetto was the father of Montserrate Rebagliato y Sorzano de Tejada, who married Mr. Carlos Coig O'Donnell y Macé, owner of the La Coronela estate (also called Torresella) and the Rebolledo estate and its hermitage, who later sold the estate. The Christ Child was originally located in the Oratory of the Estate, from where it was moved to the estate in Torrejón de Ardoz (the Cutoli-Sandoval mansion and its surroundings, where Doña Beatriz Coig y Rebagliato, O'Donnell y Sorzano de Tejada lived. She married Don Salvador de Sandoval y Cútoli, born in Torrejón de Ardoz, in La Coronela in 1910). A descendant of this family was Don Evaristo Martín de Sandoval y Freire, who gifted the statue to his wife, Doña Carmen Travesedo Colón de Carvajal, as a wedding present in 1972. She commissioned its restoration after it suffered damage during the Spanish Civil War.

· Size: 42x36x76 cms. Altura niño sin peana: 65 cms.