Featured Restoration of Seville Virgin Mary

Interesting story in the NYT,which 'makeover' do you prefer-original or 'spicy' ?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/...4383&user_id=e53e47209009937a0b2ba47c3f609c28

 

They need ART restorers/conservatorsto do the work. This is a significant art historical, as well as devotional, work of art by Luisa Roldán (La Roldana)1656-1704, considered the first female sculptor in Spain. Professional restorers /conservators do in-depth analysis of original paint, condition, etc. before they start any restoration, trying to make it true to the original work. In past eras restorers (often painters) just painted over the original surface. (Think of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper before the decades-long modern restoration. Instead of repainting the mural, they removed the overpainted surface and stablized what remained.) I have no idea how many layers of paint may or may not cover the surface Roldán's sculpture or what the condition of the wood is, but careful conservators would try to restore it to its original appearance. (I doubt they would be adding fake eyelashes!) That can be a tricky matter, particularly because this is a beloved, functioning focus for devotions (not housed in museum conditions) and pious devotees are used to seeing it in a certain way.

Attaching a few works by Luisa Roldán. They are either small terracotta statuettes or the larger devotional works, usually with wooden face, hands, & feet over an aramature dressed in rich brocades or other fabric. I assume the fabric has been changed out over the centuries. I wonder if any original fabric still exists. (I have no information on that.)


(Hispanic Society of America, New York City)


Death of Saint Mary Magdalen (detail)


Virgin & Child with St John the Baptist (Loyola University Art Museum)


La Virgine de la Macarena de la Esperanza (Seville)


La Virgine de la Macarena de la Esperanza (detail of face)


San Ginés de la Jara (Getty Art Museum)


San Ginés de la Jara (detail of hand & brodade)


San Ginés de la Jara (view of hollow bottom)

 

The attempted resto was I believe on 'La Virgine de la Macarena de la Esperanza (Seville)'.
The closeup of the hand (3rd pic from the top)-is absolutely extraordinary. The veining and coloration is sublime.

 

My beloved Cuban grandmother was of course Catholic,so I grew up with all her religious pictures and statues wich explains my love of religious art though Im not a believer. These are absolutely amazing.

 

ditto WoW

 

San Ginés de la Jara is amazing as is all of the pictures posted. Thank you for sharing!

 

Respect the original!

 

Fascinating view up the bottom (to put it inelegantly) of San Ginés. He appears so life-like but, in reality, he's just cobbled together from bits of wood.

Debora

 

They have changed so much about her, I can understand that people are upset, especially because she has such religious and social significance.

No idea what they did to her 'skin'. She no longer looks down on the faithful and 'feels' their sorrow, her eyes are much more closed now. And why did they give her such a thick nose, when she had a thin nose before?

She has been restored several times before though, I don't know how much has been changed from the original over the centuries. But the glossy look with thin nose and mournful eyes is how the faithful of Sevilla know and love her.

La Roldana was an excellent artist, there is no doubt about it. And thank you for the photos, beautiful.
But according to Wikipedia the artist of La Macarena isn't known:

".... realizada en el siglo XVII por un autor anónimo, aunque ha sido atribuida a diversos escultores relacionados con el taller de Pedro Roldán, entre los que destaca su hija La Roldana."
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanza_Macarena_de_Sevilla

Translation:

".... made in the 17th century by an anonymous artist, although it has been attributed to various sculptors related to Pedro Roldán's workshop, especially his daughter La Roldana."

Another source:

"The image’s genuine authorship is unknown and widely disputed; however, the scholarly attribution of the image is to the artist Pedro Roldán or one of his protégés in his workshop. Three other famous sculptors and their schools place claim on the image. Over time, the image fell into disrepair, but was officially restored in March 1881 by Emilio Pizzaro de la Cruz, who created new arms and hands. It was restored again in 1883."
https://thecatholictravelguide.com/destinations/spain/seville/seville-basilica-de-la-macarena/

La Macarena had fake eyelashes before this 'restoration', just like she had a wig and glass tears. It is not unusual for Spanish statues of the period to have fake eyelashes and wigs, I have seen it often, especially during the Semana Santa. Many procession statues have eyelashes and wigs.
But this eyelash job is a mess, made even worse by dressing her while the glue hadn't set yet, thereby dislodging the lashes.

 

Attribution controversies abound--although you are right that we do not know for certain. No documents survive that name the artist. However, when researching for a class on Women Artists, most of the sources I found attributed La Virgen del Macarena to La Roldana (Luisa Roldán), who was a court sculptor to the king of Spain (albeit very poorly paid).

Many historical works of art by women have been attributed to men on the principal that no woman could create anything so good. In recent decades many works have been proven to be by women artists, and many others have been attributed to them. (One famous example: A so-called “Franz Hals” was cleaned, revealing Judith Leyster’s mark, a J with a lodestar.)

That said, I suppose I should mention that many (most in some periods) works of art are attributed to specific artists because of style and technical evidence. We have no “proof.” The idea of signing a work of art is relatively new. Even when signed--on a lost frame for example-- the signature may may be lost. Artistic contracts naming an artist rarely survive (depending on the era or the patron). Attributions can be generally accepted or controversial, and they can change over time.

 

Absolutely. But in the case of La Macarena she wasn't attributed to a man, simply unknown. We don't know what she looked like originally, but imo the way she looked before the last restoration is more exaggerated and less life-like than Luísa Roldan's known pieces.

True.
It is Frans Hals, btw, not Franz. He was from the Low Countries and his name was Dutch, not German.

 

Oops. Typo.