Juan de Montejo
Spanish, died 1601
Tomb Effigy of Alonso de Mera,
1592-94
Alabaster
"Alonso de Mera, dressed in armor, kneels in prayer. This statue comes from his home town of Zamora
Spain, where it once decorated his tomb in the now destroyed monastery church of S. Pablo and SIldefonso De Mera (d. 1533) founded the monastery upon his return from Peru, where he made his fortune. He wears a dagger at his back, and the sculpture once also included a full sword, likely made in metal. A helmet and gauntlets, now lost, were originally set humbly near his feet, carved together in alabaster with a little page boy asleep, a sign of grief for the dead knight. Research published in 2016 allowed us to identify the subject, the artist, and the original location of the sculpture-which had been incorrectly identified when the MFA acquired the work more than seventy years ago. Most recently the statue was called simply a "Kneeling Knight." Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Photography by @viva_del_santo
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