When in 1652 the Sevillian sculptor Pedro Roldán had a baby girl, nobody imagined that she would follow in her famous father's footsteps: perhaps some women worked in the workshops with their fathers or husbands, it is known for certain that they helped with polychromy and colouring, but none had managed to be recognised as a sculptor in her own right. Luisa Roldán, "La Roldana", was the first. At a time of spectacular wealth for sculpture, with a religious Baroque overflowing with talent, hers would be one of the most outstanding.
Her father would be her main teacher and influence: but Luisa's stamp was undoubtedly personal. Indeed, sources indicate that she saved a commission from Seville Cathedral, which had just rejected a Saint Ferdinand by Roldán himself. Luisa, with enormous boldness, sawed off the original, transformed it to her own taste and then, yes, the sculpture was accepted.
She made the same decision when, at the age of 19, she married the sculptor Luis Antonio de los Arcos, without her father's consent, which caused a small scandal in the city. Now reconciled with him, she continued to work in her father's workshop and in her husband's. She even worked on some commissions in Cádiz. The signatures of all three appear on some of the commissions made in Cadiz.
Luisa used clay, despised by many, to mould with greater detail and at a lower price and thus be competitive in a demanding market: she specialised in small figures, in groups, which allowed her to work on each figure separately. And in 1692 she was appointed sculptor to Charles II. Unfortunately, the royal finances were so poorly administered that the position did not spare her from destitution: several letters have been preserved requesting the queen's protection, while she continued to work on various commissions. Nor did the fact that the new king, Philip V, renewed his position bring him much financial relief: he died poor in 1706, with most of his works attributed to his father, her husband or other sculptors. We now enjoy them with her signature, in the place of honour that always corresponded to her.
