Pedro Roldán

Sculpture of King Ferdinand III of Castile (1671), Cathedral of Seville. The king, later known as Saint Ferdinand (Spanish: San Fernando) is represented with a sword in one hand and an orb in the other, both traditional symbols of power.

Pedro Roldán (1624–1699) was a Baroque sculptor from Seville, Andalusia, Spain. His daughter Luisa Roldán, known as La Roldana, was also a major figure of Spanish Baroque sculpture.[1]

Life

Christ of the Pardon, Church of Santa María la Coronada, Medina Sidonia.

Pedro Roldán was born in Seville in 1624, where he was baptized in the Church of the Sanctuary (Spanish: Iglesia del Sagrario) 14 January 1624, according to his certificate of baptism. It was believed for a time in the 20th century that he might have been born in Antequera (province of Málaga), because his family was from there and his older brother Marcos was born there, or alternatively that he could have been born in Orce (province of Granada), where his family lived for a time when Pedro was a child[2]

At the age of fourteen, he moved to Granada where he apprenticed to Alonso de Mena. In 1642 he contracted marriage to Teresa de Jesús Ortega y Villavicencio,[3] who was probably the niece of his master Alonso de Mena. There, in 1644, they had their first daughter, named María. In 1646, Alonso de Mena died, leaving Bernardo de Mora as the head of the studio; Roldán left for Seville. at this time, Juan Martínez Montañés was at the end of his career, presenting an opeining for Roldán's work.

In 1660 he began to teach classes in sculptural representation as a teacher at the Academy of Art founded by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. In his last years, he established a large studio where he collaborated with members of his family (his children and sons-in-law) and his students. The studio designed and constructed altarpieces, sculpted and polychromed, undertaking projects in places as far-flung as Cádiz, Jerez de la Frontera, Córdoba and Jaén. He died in 1699, and was buried in the crypt of Saint Mark's Church (Iglesia de San Marcos) in Seville.

Besides Murillo, he was also closely connected to Juan de Valdés Leal.

Descendants

With his wife Teresa de Jesús Ortega y Villavicencio, Roldán had eight children, all of whom worked closely with him in his studio.

Style

Initially taught a naturalistic style, his imagery evolved in the direction of the Baroque, with a personal style as elegant as it was free in its form.

Most noted works

Altarpiece of the Church of the Sanctuary (Iglesia del Sagrario) in Seville; Roldán executed the sculpture of the Descent from the Cross and the relief on the pedestal.

Other documented works

Other attributed works

References

  1. ↑ Francisco Santiago. "Pedro Roldán" (in Spanish). Conocer Sevilla 2004. Retrieved 2008-12-09.
  2. ↑ In 1925, Gallego y Burín published the certificate of Roldán's marriage to Teresa de Jesús Ortega y Villavicencio, who were married in the Church of Saint Nicholas (Iglesia de San Nicolás) in Granada 1 October 1642, receiving the sacrament the following 16 February. According to Gallego y Burín, Roldán was born in Antequera. In 1950, Heliodoro Sancho Corbacho published a marriage record initiated by descendants of Roldán, in which the artist himself asserts that he was born in Orce (his final place of residence), where he lived with his parents.
  3. ↑ Juan José Martín González, La escultura barroca en España, p. 169
  4. ↑ Roldán, Luisa (La Roldana), www.artesacro.org. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
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