Bust, painted and glazed terracotta, St Philip Neri, Spain (Seville), ca. 1700-1730

This bust represents Philip Neri. The bearded saint is shown in the form of a bust, but including arms and hands. He holds a string of black rosary beads made of glass in his right hand, and wears a black soutane and biretta. A tear can be seen falling from his left eye. The painted terracotta bust is set unto a white glazed terracotta base. A coarse linen has been used to cover the join. The upper part of the piece (the figurative element) was apparently modelled from a pink clay, while the lower half (the relatively plain socle) is of a yellower clay, glazed like Spanish faience ware. The two parts seem to have been joined when the piece was first made - there are no signs of a later break or glue. The socle appears to have been once covered all over in black silk and only some of this now survives. On the inside of the socle is painted in black the word 'Phot', or possibly 'Pliot'.

Bought, by John Charles Robinson from Soriano, Madrid for £1 1s in 1864.

St Philip Neri (1515-1595) was the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, and spent most of his life in Rome. He was canonized in 1622. He is usually represented as a fairly elderly white-bearded man, often holding a rosary, as here. Many of the 17th century works portraying him derive from his death-mask in the Oratory of Sta Maria in Vallicella in Rome. A relief by Pedro Mena (1628-1688) in the choirstalls of Malaga Cathedral is another of the relatively few known representations of the saint in Spanish sculpture. The combination of a painted terracotta figure with a glazed base covered in material is highly unusual.

This bust representing the Saint Philipe Neri is made by an unknown sculptor in Seville in Spain in ca. 1700-1730.

St Philipe Neri (1515-1595) was the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, and spent most of his life in Rome. He was canonized in 1622. He is usually represented as a fairly elderly white-bearded man, often holding a rosary, as here. Many of the 17th century works portraying him derive from his death-mask in the Oratory of Sta Maria in Vallicella in Rome. A relief by Pedro Mena (1628-1688) in the choirstalls of Malaga Cathedral is another of the relatively few known representations of the saint in Spanish sculpture. The combination of a painted terracotta figure with a glazed base covered in material is highly unusual

103-1864