The Infant St John the Baptist,
A first half of 17th century Sevillian School
Cercle of Juan de Mesa Velasco (Córdoba, 1583 - Séville, 1627)

Polychrome and carved wood
Height: 65 cm

This charming, intricately carved polychrome wooden statue finds its inspiration in the model of the Blessed Infant Jesus created by the early seventeenth-century Sevillian sculptor Juan de Mesa Velasco.
Standing, leaning on his left leg, in contrapposto, the chubby-bodied Saint John the Baptist displays a voluminous hairstyle with curly hair and a tuft on the top of his head.
The positions of the arms indicate that he had in his left hand the reed cross (his biblical attribute), while the index finger of his right hand points forward.

Juan de Mesa y Velasco (1583-1627) was one of the great sculptors representing the Sevillian school of the early 17th century, his flagship work, one of the most accomplished of which is preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts in Córdoba, is the Infant Jesus Blessing, with his characteristic hairstyle: the locks that form a tuft on the top of the forehead.

Related works:

Blessing Christ child by Juan de Mesa Velasco

• Museum of Fine Arts, Córdoba, first quarter of the 17th century, h. 63 cm
• Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Seville, circa 1625, h. 63 cm
• Museo Nacional de Artes de Catalunya, circa 1615-1625, h. 53 cm