Attributed to Andrés de Ocampo (1553-1624) Spanish, Andalusia, circa 1581-1585

Don Francisco de Zuñiga y Sotomayor, 4^thDuke of Béjar, El Bosque Palace, Béjar, Salamanca, circa 1581-1585;

and thence by family descent to Mariano Téllez-Girón y Beaufort Spontin, 12^th Duke of Osuna, El Bosque Palace, Béjar, Salamanca, until 1869;

sold with the house to Cipriano Rodriguez-Arias, El Bosque Palace, Béjar, Salamanca, 1869;

and thence by family descent

The present crucifix originates from the chapel of the ducal palace of El Bosque, a large country house built for Don Francisco de Zuñiga y Sotomayor, 4^th Duke of Béjar and Plasencia, and his wife Brianda Sarmiento de la Cerda in the town of Béjar near Salamanca in the final decades of the 16^th century. The Dukes of Béjar were part of the Zuñiga family, which included members of the Order of the Golden Fleece, governors of Chile and ambassadors to the Spanish King in Naples, England and France. The 1^st Duke of Béjar had distinguished himself in the War of Castilian Succession, providing his descendants with the favour of the Spanish royal family and remarkable wealth. A devout man, the 4^th Duke was particularly concerned with ecclesiastical additions to the family’s estates and, between 1581 and 1585, he commissioned a number of works of art for the chapel at El Bosque. (Muñoz Dominguez, op.cit.)

Over the centuries the Béjar ducal title was absorbed into the Osuna family and, by 1869, the El Bosque had been sold to Cipriano Rodriguez Arias. The present corpus was relocated to a new chapel in 1871 and became vastly important to the local population when, on 15 June 1874, it was blessed by the Archbishop of Seville, Cardinal Luis de Lastra y Cuesta, who subsequently granted one hundred days of indulgence to anyone who prayed before it. This event is documented by a certificate issued by the Archbishop which is sold with the present statue.

The angular pectoral muscles, mirrored by the outline of the lower edge of the rib cage, and overall muscular build of the present representation of Christ compares well to corpora by Andalusian sculptors and specifically Andrés de Ocampo. Note, for example, the processional Crucifix that King Felipe IV commissioned from the sculptor for the cathedral of Comayagua in Honduras in 1620. The angular face, heavy brow, weary expression, stylised hair and the polychromy characterised by the contrast of the pale skin tone with the dark burgundy blood, in turn, are echoed in the relief with the Descent of the Cross of 1603-1605 in the church of San Vicente, and the 1623 Corpus Christi in the church of Los Negritos, both in Seville. (op.cit., Santos Márquez) Even though Ocampo was Andalusian, his workshop provided sculpture for patrons throughout Spain, including members of the Royal family.

RELATED LITERATURE
J. Hernández Diaz, Andrés de Ocampo (1555?-1623), Seville, 1987; J. Muñoz Dominguez, “Las obras del Maestro Rodrigo Alonso y la pieza del escritorio en El Bosque de Béjar (1583)”, U. Dominguez Garrio and J. Muñoz Dominguez (eds.), El Bosque de Béjar y las viallas de recreo en el Renacimiento, Béjar, 2003, pp. 49-74; J. Santos Márquez, “El escultor Andrés de Ocampo y su trabajo para el convento de la Victoria de Osuna”, Apuntes 2, no. 5, 2007, pp. 129-138

We are grateful to Alvaro Pascual Chenel for his assistance in cataloguing this work.