Description:
Polychrome wooden sculpture in linden wood.
Dimensions: height 142 cm (153 cm with pedestal), width 57 cm, depth 39 cm (from the back to the fingertips).
Saint Paul is depicted in the traditional iconography of the disseminator of the New Testament, holding a scroll of epistles in his left hand, while his right hand held the sword (1).
The figure is standing according to the "contrapposto" canon: the body parts are arranged asymmetrically, the head is turned slightly in the opposite direction to the hips, with the weight entirely on the right leg while the left, free, suggests a beginning of movement, supported by an imperceptible twist of the torso.
The balanced classicism of the body bears the imprint of the Lombard Renaissance (Zenale, Bussolo), while the ample and harmonious flow of the drapery echoes the Sansovinian elegance of Venetian sculpture.
Everything is rendered with energetic carving and articulated chiaroscuro: this is well shown by the drapery with decisive folds, the imposing beard with large volutes, the thick hair described lock by lock that also covers the ears, all defined by deep carving that enhances the realism of the character and the sense of his authority.
The Olivieri brothers - Maffeo (1484-1543) and Andrea (1494-1552) were notable protagonists with their active Brescian workshop of late Renaissance art in the area between Eastern Lombardy, the Trentino of the Giudicarie Valleys, and the Veneto.
From the 1530s onwards, the workshop was enriched with a new, more updated style, a sort of Brescian translation of Romanino's painting, characterized by gestural freedom, physiognomic realism, and a concrete grip on the subject, the culmination of which is the monumental altarpiece of S. Maria Assunta in the Pieve di Condino (2), begun by Maffeo in 1538 and delivered by Andrea in 1546, three years after his brother's death.
The sculpture presented here is comparable to the style of Condino, and also dates back to the 1530s; it is the decade when the authority of Saint Paul played a central role in the preparatory debate for the Council of Trent, convened shortly thereafter (1545) by a Pope who had chosen the name Paul for himself (Paul III Farnese).
Structural and conservative aspects:
- on the back of the sculpture there is a large and characteristic hollow to prevent wood cracking;
- the work is in very good condition, with very few and minor losses (the terminal part of the scroll of epistles, a fragment of the right cuff);
- the polychromy shows wear and thinning of the paint layer on the garments, with some areas allowing the wood grain to be seen, without altering the overall chromatic balance.
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(1) The attribute of the sword is associated with Saint Paul because he compares God's word to it:
(Hebrews 4:12): "for the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
(Ephesians 6:17): "take up also the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
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(2) On the altarpiece of S. Maria Assunta in the Pieve di Condino, see the complete and exhaustive study by Claudio Strocchi - "Figure a rilievo, e così da vivo": sculptures by Maffeo and Andrea Olivieri - 2008, edited by the Autonomous Province of Trento, Superintendence for Historical and Artistic Assets of Trentino – Quaderni n.15
