Although the mainly preserved production of Luisa Roldán (Seville, 1652-Madrid, 1706) is in polychrome wood, she considers that the first Spanish sculptor mastered both wood and stone, metal or wax. Reflecting this virtuosity in its production is one of the objectives pursued by the National Museum of Sculpture with the “Luisa Roldán” exhibition. Royal Sculptor’,the first retrospective devoted to a woman by this institution. With this, he also intends to return “one of the best artists of Spanish Baroque” to her rightful place, he said yesterday. Miguel Ángel Marcos, curator of the Valladolid Museum and curator of the exhibition with Pablo Amador, researcher at the Aesthetic Research Institute of UNAM (Mexico).
Through 55 works – including 32 productions of “La Roldana”, as it was commonly called -, the exhibition presents a chronological journey through what was the first chamber sculptor, with the particularity, in addition, that she was one in periods as different as the reigns of Charles II, the last monarch of the Austrian dynasty, and Philip V, the first of the Bourbons, both with very marked tastes. This “milestone” of a “real sculptor” is mentioned in the title of the exhibition, which offers a double game, since it also wants to highlight “the true artist that she was”. “Luisa Roldán had a great creative capacity and drank in all the artistic knowledge of the moment,” underlined Marcos during the opening of the exhibition, which will remain at the Villena Palace until March 9, 2025. “We “We called the artist in capital letters,” said his colleague Pablo Amador, who has been working for several years with the curator of the Valladolid museum so that this major retrospective can see the light of day.
The references, as well as the knowledge he assimilated there, are reflected in several chapters of the exhibition, among which the first after the introduction, dedicated to the workshop of his father, Pedro Roldán. Luisa’s sisters were also trained there, Francisca as a polychrome artist and María Josefa as a sculptor, and great artists like Valdés Leal and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo passed there: “It was a fundamental moment in the history of our plastic arts because for the It is the first time that the World Union is trying to enter this academic field of training”, explained Pablo Amador on this subject. In this space you can see sculptures such as “Head of apostle?”, “San Ignacio de Loyola” or “San Roque”, all by Pedro Roldán, as well as a “Saint Dominic de la Calzada” by his daughter María Josefa.
Seville, as the starting point of his journey, the arrival of recognition of “La Roldana” from his stay in Cádiz are the next steps before arriving in Madrid. You can see some of his processional sculptures such as a “Saint John of God” dating from 1680 or those belonging to the Brotherhood of the Exaltation of Seville “Angel with a crown of thorns” and “Angel with a crown of nails” . . But if there is one work that attracts attention, it is good the spectacular ensemble of the “Birth and parade of the Three Kings”composed of 24 figures in polychrome cedar wood. This work, which is exhibited for the first time after its restoration since entering the collections of the National Museum of Sculpture, is another of the many lenders, as well as from several Sevillian brotherhoods and private collections, which has allowed some of the pieces are seen for the first time in public, such as the “Virgin Sewing”.
The next chapter through which the chronological journey passes refers to the artist’s stay in Madrid. Seat of the Court, the capital was a land of opportunity for Hispanic and foreign artists, and where “La Roldana” sought to increase its prestige. There, he changed the way he worked, Marcos remembers. He began making “jewelry,” pieces that represent religious moments. but whose destination will not be the temples but the different rooms of the house. “With them, he adapted well to what the Kings were looking for, which was the Italian model,” explained the commissioner. It was the new Neapolitan air brought by Luca Giordano, the Court’s favorite painter, which inspired his compositions.
It will be as chamber sculptor of Philip V that the artist will bring his mastery of sculpture to its maximum expression, whether with images in wood like the mourner “Ecce Homo”, or in clay, like the “Transit de la Madeleine”, work which is presented to the public after its recent acquisition by the Ministry of Culture.
As the curator summarized, through this exhibition, the largest since he was director of the Alejandro Nuevo Museum, he is trying to give another touch to the “meritorious work” carried out in the Real Alcázar of Seville in 2007 with the exhibition ‘Roldana’, “which was a fundamental entry point for the adequate and scientific knowledge of Luisa Roldán”. Proof of this is also the “epilogue” with which the exhibition ends, entitled “The complicit gaze: history of art and restoration”. With this, as detailed by Pablo Amador, the objective is to make a “nod” to the complementary work that the two areas have and which has been the subject of an exhibition project, since the intervention in various works of Luisa Roldán has meant a significant advance in the knowledge of the materiality of his work and the techniques he uses in sculpture, modeling and polychromy.
This exhibition can be visited at the Villena Palace from this Friday until March 9, 2025, with free entry, and with hours from Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. :00 hours
