St Philip Neri

This bust representing the Saint Philipe Neri is made by an unknown sculptor in Seville in Spain in ca. 1700-1730.

St Philipe Neri (1515-1595) was the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, and spent most of his life in Rome. He was canonized in 1622. He is usually represented as a fairly elderly white-bearded man, often holding a rosary, as here. Many of the 17th century works portraying him derive from his death-mask in the Oratory of Sta Maria in Vallicella in Rome. A relief by Pedro Mena (1628-1688) in the choirstalls of Malaga Cathedral is another of the relatively few known representations of the saint in Spanish sculpture. The combination of a painted terracotta figure with a glazed base covered in material is highly unusual