Late 15th/Early 16thC Spanish Reliquary Bust of a Young Woman (c. 1500 Spain)

Poplar, painted and gilded

54.00cm high    (  21.26 inches high)

The parallel lines of gilding revealed by scratching away overpaint is a distinctive technique known in Spanish as estofado or, more precisely here, rajado.

The influence of Netherlandish sculptors is evident in this bust. Indeed, such cross-fertilization of artistic ideas was prevalent in Spain at this period. For example, Gil de Siloé, who worked in and around Burgos in the last fifteen years of the 15th century, may have been born there.