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Vintage sculpture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in wood pulp, Spain
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Product description
Sacred Heart of Jesus Sculpture, Olot School, pp. 20th century – Girona, Catalonia
Wonderful image of Olot, made of wood-paste, of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is a sculpture typical of the Olot School, made at the beginning of the 20th century, in the homonymous Spanish town in the province of Gerona.
With a canon of elongated proportions, Jesus is presented in this sculpture with a serene and calm face. He has long hair, as well as a beard, his mouth is half open, and his eyes are glassy. Great sweet and realistic polychrome, which is completed with an openwork crown in gold metal, with neo-Gothic motifs. His posture, with his arms open showing his chest, affects the same tranquility. Elegant hands with thin and stylized fingers, where the wounds of the nails of the cross can be seen; with his right hand he blesses the world.
He wears a beautiful clothing made up of two pieces, a tunic and a mantle, both golden. While the entire mantle is plain and falls over the shoulders, the lower tunic presents a rich, high-quality gold screen print, ornamented with the same neo-Gothic motifs. To achieve this effect, incisions have first been made on the surface, which adds great volume to the representation of the fabric. Afterwards, a layer of fine gold powder bound with gum arabic has been applied and decorations have subsequently been made using a brush. In the center of his chest is the Sacred Heart, crowned and spineless.
The figure of Jesus is barefoot and on the globe that acts as a base. In a kind of phylactery it is written "In Spain I will reign and with more veneration than other parts." It refers to the Great Promise, revealed in an apparition to Bernando de Hoyos, a Jesuit priest settled in the city of Valladolid in the 18th century, a great promoter of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and beatified for it, by the Catholic Church, in 2010. This magnificent sculpture is in good condition for its age and use, only a small opening in one fist, barely noticeable as a whole.
The Sacred Heart itself is an iconography that symbolizes the goodness of God towards his children, through a great heart. It is important to highlight the role of Saint Margaret of Alacoque, who had different visions of Jesus – during the years from 1672 to 1675 in France – who spoke to her about this great love and that she should share that message to humanity. In this revelation, Sister Margaret witnessed the heart surrounded by the flames of love, crowned with thorns and the characteristic wound, accompanied by a cross coming out from inside it. The iconographic evolution of the Sacred Heart as understood today is relatively modern. In this sense, the company of Jesus has had great importance in its dissemination, especially by including in its pastoral work the veneration of the representation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
About religious imagery in Olot
Religious imagery in Olot was born in 1880 with the founding of a workshop by Joaquim Vayreda and Josep Berga dedicated to the manufacture of saints. Linked to the Olot Public Drawing School, both were concerned about the lack of professional opportunities for their students.
At first, the first images that were made were unique clay pieces; They also painted plaster sculptures brought from France. Four years later, images began to be made from wood pulp, a material that would revolutionize the production of saints. It was a very strong mixture that allowed large pieces to be made while significantly lightening their weight. Unlike plaster, wood pulp was a privileged material since in 1887, following an ecclesiastical decree, it was allowed to be blessed.
Soon, new workshops began to be founded in the city. Religious imagery was consolidated as an important and characteristic production of Olot, whose rise was decisively contributed by the existence in the city of the public School of Drawing, born a century earlier and which trained skilled artisans for the workshops.
Material: pulp-wood
School: Olot School
Period: Early 20th century
Country of origin: Catalonia, Spain
Origin: Valladolid private collection
Good condition according to its age and use. Minor foul.
Dimensions: 63 x 32 x 24 cm.
Halo 17 cm in diameter.
Shipping of the product will be paid by the buyer according to the dimensions, weight and destination. Professional custom-made packaging is included in the shipping costs; and personalized shipping, with tracking number and warranty.
Specifications
ConditionGoodOrientationPortraitArt sizeMediumHeight63 cmWidth24 cmDepth32 cm