Polychrome And Gilded Wooden Sculpture – Saint Luke The Evangelist

Sicilian, late 16th century
Attributed to Scipione Li Volsi
Magnificent wooden sculpture depicting Christ Blessing, crafted from carved, polychromed, and gilded wood with pure gold leaf, featuring punched floral decorations and engraved motifs. The face, with its soft, spiritual features, and the rich rendering of the gilded drapery testify to the sculptor's mastery and the fusion of Tuscan Renaissance influences and local devotional taste.
The work, intensely expressive and refined in its sculptural quality, is attributable to the Sicilian sculptural scene of the late 16th century and can be attributed to the workshop of Scipione Li Volsi, active in the Messina and Palermo areas between the late 16th and early 17th centuries.