Montanes, Juan Martinez
MONTANES, JUAN MARTINEZ (c. 1580-1649), Spanish sculptor, was born at Alcala-la-real, in the province of Granada. His master was Pablo de Roxas, his first known work (1607) being a boy Christ, now in the sacristy of the capella anligua in the cathedral of Seville. The great ' altar at Santiponce near Seville, was completed in 1812. Montanes executed most of his sculpture in wood, covered with a surface of polished gold, and coloured. Other works were the great altars at Santa Clara in Seville and at San Miguel in Jerez, the Conception and the realistic figure of Christ crucified, in the Seville cathedral; the figure of St John the Baptist, and the St Bruno (1620); a tomb for Don Perez de Guzman and his wife (1619); the St Ignatius and the St Francis of Borja in the university church of Seville. Montanes died in 1649, leaving a large family. His works are more realistic than imaginative, but this, allied with an impeccable taste, produced remarkable results. The equestrian statue of King Philip IV., caste in bronze by Pietro Tacca in Florence and now in Madrid, was modelled by Montanes. He had many imitators, his son Alonzo Martinez, who died in 1668, being among them.
See B. Haendeke, Studien zur Geschichle der spanischen Plastik (Strassburg, IQOO); F. Gomez, Historia de la escultura en Espana (Madrid, 1885).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
