Juan de Mesa y Velasco (1583–1627) was a Spanish
Baroque sculptor. He was the creator of several of the effigies that are used in the procession during the
Holy Week in Seville
Holy Week in Seville (In Spanish: ''Semana Santa de Sevilla'') is one of two biggest annual festivals in Seville, Andalusia, Spain, the other being the ''Feria de Abril'' (April Fair), which follows two weeks later. It is celebrated in the week l ...
.
Biography
De Mesa was born in
Córdoba and baptized on 26 June 1583.
He entered the workshop of
Juan Martínez Montañés in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...
in 1606. He died in the city in 1627. His early death, coupled with the large gaps in his biography, has led to speculation that he suffered from a chronic disease such as
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...
.
Like his master, Montañés, de Mesa's works were realistic rather than imaginative in form, his sculptures closely replicate the human form. This was in line with the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
's
aesthetic program for the visual arts following the
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described a ...
, which sought to make the arts accessible to the poorly educated by using realistic forms.
Processional effigies make up the bulk of de Mesa's extant work and are still objects of devotion. These works include ''Cristo del Amor'', ''Cristo de la Buena Muerte'' and ''Jesus del Gran Poder''.
See also
*
Sevillian school of sculpture
References
1583 births
1627 deaths
People from Córdoba, Spain
17th-century Spanish sculptors
Spanish Baroque sculptors
Spanish male sculptors
Catholic sculptors
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