Pedro Roldán (1624-1699) Spanish, Seville, circa 1660-1670

Carlos Marañon de Arana, Seville, since 1970;

and thence by descent

The veneration of Saint John the Baptist became ever more widespread during the 17^th century. In addition to the importance attached to him in the Middle Ages as the link between the Old and New Testaments, the saint also received special devotion together with Saint John the Evangelist relating to the exaltation of Mary and their defence of her Immaculate Conception. Given their relationship with the Immaculate Conception, the two St. Johns often appeared as a pair in convents and monasteries such as the carvings executed by Martínez Montañés for the monastery of San Isidoro del Campo in Santiponce (see Torrejón Díaz, op.cit., p. 371)

Although Pedro Roldán was born in Seville in 1624, he spent his formative years in Granada. Roldán learnt to sculpt in the studio of Alonso de Mena, working alongside his sons, Pedro and Alonso de Mena y Medrano. At the age of twenty-two, Roldán returned to Seville, where he remained for the rest of his life. In Seville he adopted the Baroque language of José de Arce, a Flemish sculptor whose other followers include Jacinto Pimentel and Alonso Martínez. This group of sculptors’ work is characterised by a softer, flowing treatment of the hair, voluminous robes and cloaks and dynamic poses. Pedro Roldán’s first major commission after moving to Seville was the high altar in the convent of Santa Ana de Montilla in Cordoba.

In 1663 and 1664 Roldán collaborated with the architect Pedro Camacho de la Vega on an altarpiece for the brotherhood of the Virgen de Rosario for their convent of San Pablo. Two figures from this altarpiece survive: a Saint Gabriel and a Saint Michael. The former is now in the chapel of the brotherhood of the Sacramental in the parish church of Santa María Magdalena and was exhibited in Seville in 2007. (Romero Torres and Torrejón Días, op.cit.) Its forward stride, idealised oval face and lush flowing hair all compare well to the present statue. The two angels on the main altarpiece made for the chapel of the brotherhood of La Piedad in the church of the convent of San Francisco in Seville, which was carved by Roldán around 1666-1669 and was transferred to Seville Cathedral, have an equally active stance and tousled hairstyle with fine strands of hair painted on the forehead, and similar fluttering robes (Roda Peña, op.cit., p. 140).

RELATED LITERATURE
A. Torrejón Díaz, “La iconografía de San Juan Evangelista en la obra de Juan de Mesa. Revisiones y nuevas atribuciones”, Juan de Mesa (1627-2002): visiones y revisiones, Cordoba, 2003; L. Romero Torres and A. Torrejón Díaz, Roldana, exh. cat. Reales Alcázares de Sevilla, Seville, 2007; J. Roda Peña, “Pedro Roldán. Ángeles pasionarios, 1666-1668”, Teatro de Grandezas, exh. cat. Hospital Real, Granada, Seville, 2007

We are grateful to José Luis Romero Torres for his assistance in cataloguing this work.