Spanish school of the 16th century. "Saint Paul". Carved and polychrome wood. A devotional sculpture in the round, carved in wood, polychromed and gilded, depicting the Apostle Saint Paul, dressed in a tunic and cloak, with a forked beard, brown hair, and a large sword, his principal iconographic attribute. In the Middle Ages, numerous guilds were placed under his patronage due to various aspects of his iconography, life, and miracles. However, Saint Paul was never a popular saint, which demonstrates the relative scarcity of his iconography. In fact, his role in art is disproportionate to his importance in the spread of Christianity. In early Christian art, his only attributes are a book or a scroll, and it is in the 13th century that his emblem, the sword that was the instrument of his martyrdom, appears. Once the clash between tradition and modernity had subsided, with the arrival of Italian Renaissance influences in Spain, the High 16th century was characterized by the great development of religious imagery. Stylistically, a confrontation also took place between sculptors who adhered to the classicist style and those of Flemish origin, who sought more dramatic and emotional approaches. Thus, the dissemination of religious imagery in Spain rested on two fundamental pillars. Firstly, the fact that Nordic influence constituted a clearly distinct alternative to the Italian classicist model; secondly, the emotional dimension that religious imagery, by its very nature, had to possess, was oriented more towards amplifying feeling and moving the faithful than towards adhering to the rationalist dictates of the Renaissance. So much so, that in Spain, attention to the emotional was more prominent than in the rest of Europe. Thus, the image, associated with the words of the preachers, was the most suitable instrument for the indoctrination of the people and for the defense of the canons of the Church, following scholastic and not humanistic approaches.
· Size: 19x12x39 cms.
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