PhD Program in Historical studies
Francisco del Rincón’s “La Elevación de la Cruz”
María Bolaños Atienza, Director of the National Sculpture Museum of Valladolid, shows us one of the most important works preserved in the permanent exhibition at the Museum.
The theatrical and spectacular size which characterises all the arts in the Baroque period is particularly evident during the processions of Holy Week, one of the characteristic components of Spanish religiosity. The representation of the main episodes of the Passion of Christ was staged through the pasos, taken in procession by the faithful. Francisco del RincónFrancisco del Rincón (1567-1608) was one of the first great masters of Spanish Baroque and the Castilian school of sculpture. A master or perhaps just a friend of Gregorio Fernández’s, who introduced to the court of Philip III, he was also one of the first creators of processional pageants (pasos) used in the celebrations of Holy Week in the baroque period. Some of his major works are preserved in the Museo Nacional de Escultura of Valladolid. was one of the first sculptors of wood to devote himself to the creation of pasos. In the Elevación de la Cruz there are the two thieves waiting to be crucified with Jesus, while five figures raise the cross. There is also a certain mannerist component, evident for example in the unusual position of the two figures placed before the cross that pull the ropes, bent backwards looking for a point of equilibrium. This and other details give the whole a sense of vitality and realism. The pasos are the perfect symbol of that “art for the masses,” or art for the people, which is another essential element of culture and sensitivity of the Baroque.