It is largely a matter of religious sculptures in polychrome wood with striking naturalism, which help us better understand the cultural and religious atmosphere in which the work of the great Spanish painters of the same period is situated, foremost among them Zurbarán, Velázquez or Murillo, at a time when the ties between painting and sculpture were very close.
The exhibition will particularly highlight the loan of a complete paso de procession, a monumental ensemble of five life-size sculpted and painted figures, dating from the early 17th century, the work of Gregorio Fernández, a great sculptor then active in Valladolid, presented at eye level to allow the most direct possible observation. The route will continue through several thematic strands: the cult of relics and the role of intercessor saints, dressed statues, the representation of the sufferings of Christ and the Virgin, private devotion and the Immaculate Conception.
It will thus be possible to explore the various uses and meanings of these sculptures, but also to better understand their materiality, regional and stylistic inflections, and the personality of the principal sculptors of this time, active in Castile or Andalusia, through other works by Gregorio Fernández, but also by Alonso Cano, Juan de Mesa, José de Mora, Pedro de Mena, Jerónimo Francisco and Miguel Jerónimo Garciá, José de Arce, Pedro Roldán or even Luisa Roldán, one of the rare women artists to have enjoyed a dazzling career up to the royal court.
Besides the paso Camino del Calvario, among the major loans of this exhibition, never seen in France, are notably the Cristo de la Luz also by Gregorio Fernández, a life-size Christ on the cross with striking naturalism, or the Saint Jean Baptiste, a masterpiece by Alonso Cano. The Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist by Luisa Roldán and The Immaculate Conception by Pedro de Mena dated 1680, linked to a competition organised by the bishop of Granada, two recent major acquisitions of the museum, spectacularly restored, will also be presented.