A standing figure of the Christ Child

In 1607 Juan Martínez Montañes carved a figure of an Infant Christ Triumphant for the Confraternity of the Tabernacle in Seville. The resounding success of this figure gave rise to a large number of requests for similar devotional figures but cast in metal and painted. In a treatise on the Art of Painting (1649), Francisco Pacheco mentions the existence in Seville of specialist artists, such as Diego de Oliver, who was a 'master hollower of figures in relief' and specifically 'of lead children' (Museo Nacional, loc. cit.). Juan de Mesa was the most talented pupil in Montañes workshop and created a number of superbly modelled and cast figures in hollowed metal that take Montañes Infant Christ as its basis. Typical of Mesa's style is the way the hair is modelled, with a voluminous clustering of curls over the forehead and protruding above the temples. The present figure is closely comparable to a polychrome lead figure of Infant Christ in the University of Seville (Alonso Cano, loc. cit.). The majority of these were cast in a lead alloy that was quite malleable and far softer than bronze.