Wooden Sculpture Of Saint Francis Xavier 1715-35

This work of great executive quality and formal refinement depicts St. Francis Xavier, in his consecrated robes; he wears a black cassock with a high collar and the typical vestments of the celebrant on it.
The posterior view reveals the presence of the tonsure, characteristic of priests.
The face stands out for its beauty, extremely expressive but drawn and emaciated, as if to symbolize an ascetic life of deprivation, and the gesture, broad and theatrical, as the style of the time wanted, but not devoid of a decision that seems to denote the attitude of what today we would call "a man of action".
The care reserved for the folds, the collar, (fossil permanence of the most ancient ruff), the thin and airy shirt; just as the liveliness of the physiognoma, accentuated by an amazing color scheme that makes the complexion alive and throbbing, denote not only the work of the hand of a high-level artist, but also a client of a high intellectual level and endowed with a high budget.
The last notable detail of attention are the glass paste eyes that amplify the effect of verisimilitude.