"Inventory- UV000190
Collection- Artistic Collections
Subcollection- Sculpture
Object- Sculpture
Author- José Aixà Iñigo/ Cast by: Vicente Ríos (workshops "La Primitiva Valenciana")
Description:
The statue of the philosopher and humanist Juan Luis Vives, one of the first students of our university, presides over the Main Cloister of the historical building of the University of Valencia from a high molded pedestal located in its center. The construction of the monument is due to the proposal and decision of the rector José Monserrat.
Represented full-length and dressed in 16th century clothing, he holds a book in his left hand, while his right arm is extended in an attitude of exhortation. The philosopher extends his hand in a gesture of approach to the university community, thus representing one of the values always defended by this University: civic and social commitment and wisdom as a distinctive element of humanistic knowledge that acquires its full meaning when it is shared and offered to society as a sign of service.
It is the work of José Aixá, a notable sculptor and restorer of the Lonja and the Serranos towers, to whom we also owe the beautiful bas-reliefs of Surgery, Medicine and Pharmacopoeia that adorned the façade of the old Faculty of Medicine. Vicente Ríos made the technically very complex casting, in solid bronze, in a single piece, of this sculptural image in 1880.
Technique- Casting, chiseling
Materials- Bronze
Dimensions- 239 cm
Date- 1880
Building- La Nau Cultural Center
Location- Cloister La Nau. Museum of the Universitat de València"
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LUIS VIVES:
"Juan Luis Vives, also Joan Lluís Vives i March (?u'a? ?u'iz 'vivez i 'ma?k) (6 March 1493 – 6 May 1540), was a Valencian Spanish scholar and humanist. He lived during the reign of Charles I of Spain (technically under Philip II of Spain, as Charles was more preoccupied with the Holy Roman Empire). He caused great upset during this period of time, as the Church wanted religious unity and his beliefs caused more religious contradications to what the Inquisition and Philip wanted.
He descended from conversos (converts)- his parents had practiced the Jewish faith. He was offered a position at Alcala University but after the burning of his father, he could not take up this post. Vives had to leave Spain."
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