Luisa Ignacia Roldan

Luisa Roldán: The Entombment of Jesus

Luisa Ignacia Roldán ( 8. September 1652 in Seville - 10. January 1706 in Madrid ) was a Spanish sculptor of the Baroque . "La Roldana", as she is called, is the first traditional Spanish sculptor. Although she made a career as a court sculptor - Charles II and his successor Philip V were among her clients - she ultimately died in poverty. Difficulties in clearly assigning her works arise from the fact that women were not allowed to sign contracts at the time.

Life

Luisa Roldán was born in Seville. Her father was the sculptor Pedro Roldán, who taught her and her siblings too. At the age of 15 she married Luis Antonio de los Arcos, who worked as a painter of sculptures and sculptor. They had seven children, five of whom died over the years. The family moved to Madrid in 1689 . Here Luisa Roldán became famous above all for her small polychrome and gilded groups of sculptures made of baked clay . She became court sculptor in 1692. Towards the end of her life she was accepted into the Accademia di San Luca . Nevertheless, she died impoverished in Madrid.

plant

Roldán's first documented work is an Ecce homo for the Carmelite monastery of Cádiz , from 1684 (today in the Cathedral of Cádiz). It "shows Christ as a victim of torture, as a human creature of suffering, with a contorted expression on his face, his mouth open to a cry of pain, his bound hands clenching around the corners of the purple cloak."

In Roldán's work, as in Spanish sculpture of the 17th century in general, religious themes were central. The client was the church or the nobility, who ordered furnishings for private chapels. Sculptures were mainly made of wood, as this is less fragile than other materials such as wax or lead, and at the same time easier to work with than marble . The wooden sculptures were painted after they were made . Especially in her later creative period, however, Roldán also made smaller, painted terracotta figures that were intended for private devotion.

Web links

Commons : Luisa Roldán - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

Jump up ↑ Catherine Hall van den Elsen: Roldana, Andalucía Barroca 2007. Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Cultura, ISBN 978-84-8266-717-1 . P. 21.
↑ For a long time, 1654 was considered the year Luisa Roldán was born, until her baptismal certificate was found in a church archive in Seville in 1984.
↑ Delia Gaze (Ed.): Dictionary of Women Artists. Volume 2. Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997, pp. 1192-1195.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Evelyn Vogel: La Roldana - Incredibly beautiful. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 9, 2016, accessed on April 8, 2020.
^ Nancy G Heller: Women Artists: An Illustrated History. (4th edition). Abbeville, New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-789-20768-5 , p. 51.
↑ Berthold Volberg: The Spanish court sculptor and her female archangel - for the 350th birthday of La Roldana. From Caiman - culture and travel magazine for Latin America, Spain, Portugal. 09/2002.

personal data
SURNAME	Roldán, Luisa Ignacia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Roldana, La
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Spanish sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH	September 8, 1652
PLACE OF BIRTH	Seville
DATE OF DEATH	January 10, 1706
Place of death	Madrid

[1] Jump up ↑ Catherine Hall van den Elsen: Roldana, Andalucía Barroca 2007. Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Cultura, ISBN 978-84-8266-717-1 . P. 21.

[2] For a long time, 1654 was considered the year Luisa Roldán was born, until her baptismal certificate was found in a church archive in Seville in 1984.

[3] Delia Gaze (Ed.): Dictionary of Women Artists. Volume 2. Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997, pp. 1192-1195.

[SZ_a-4] Evelyn Vogel: La Roldana - Incredibly beautiful. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 9, 2016, accessed on April 8, 2020.

[5] Nancy G Heller: Women Artists: An Illustrated History. (4th edition). Abbeville, New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-789-20768-5 , p. 51.

[6] Berthold Volberg: The Spanish court sculptor and her female archangel - for the 350th birthday of La Roldana. From Caiman - culture and travel magazine for Latin America, Spain, Portugal. 09/2002.