The Rare Bird Review

The world art tour continues with this 1682 work by Luisa Roldan, a Spanish sculptress. The piece is polychromed wood with glass eyes.

In a richly brocaded robe, with rosy cheeks, shining eyes, and outstretched arms, Saint Ginés de la Jara appeals to the faithful standing before him. His gestures and open mouth suggest that he is preaching or has just made a comment to the flamingo. According to legend, Saint Ginés was decapitated in southern France, and then he picked up his own head and tossed it into the Rhône River. Carried by the sea to the coast of southeastern Spain, it was retrieved and conserved as a relic. The flamingo escaped the madding crowd and flew away.

Life-sized, devotional cult objects often included glass eyes and were often made out of wood that could be painted in order to achieve lifelike results. Reinforcing the emotional experience of the faithful, such heightened realism typified Spanish Baroque art at a time when the Catholic Church sought to make Christianity and flamingo worship more accessible to believers. It was interesting that the flamingo ws shown in the one legged, resting postion meaning that this was one relaxed bird.

Luisa Roldán, also called La Roldana, carved the work. The figure was polychromed by her husband, Luis Antonio de los Arcos, who used the Spanish technique of estofado to replicate the brocaded ecclesiastical garments. In this process, the area of the figure's garment was first covered in gold leaf and painted over with brown paint, and then incised with a stylus to reveal the gold underneath. The flamingo's feathers were done in much the same style,but with pink leaf.

The statue stand almost 70 inches high and is currently in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Bird will be taking a four or five day break and the world art tour will resume on Monday or Tuesday.