At a glance, Montañés’s representations of the young Christ look very similar. And yet the artist still succeeded in creating two very different, appealing Christ Childs, with minute differences in the colours, shape and material used. Such infant figures, without the Virgin Mary, were very much in demand in women’s monastic communities, where they were cherished. While the saintly infants seemed almost untouchable because of their emboldened pose, aristocratic dignity and attribute – the orb –, they still symbolised the inevitable tragic ending they would experience, undergoing their fate without resistance, as the saviour of the world.

Gazing at sculptures of such high tactile value inspired a sense of powerlessness and gratitude, an urge for devotion and unconditional maternal love. These figures were produced in such a devotional context, influenced by the ideas of the Counter-Reformation. The idealised realism of Montañés, who is also sometimes called the ‘Dios de la madera’ (the god of woodworking), is just as moving today.

Sibylla Goegebuer