FRANCISCO ZARCILLO Y ALCARAZ  (1707—1781);

Spanish sculptor, was born in Murcia on the 12th of May 1707 . At the age of twenty he completed the statue of St Ines of Montepulciano, which had been begun for the Dominicans at Murcia by his father . On the death of the latter the care of the family fell upon Francisco, who with the help of his brothers and sisters organized a workshop . In 1765 he also founded a small academy, which, however, was speedily dissolved owing to disunion among the members . In the Ermita de Jesils in Murcia may be seen Zarcillo's scenes from the Passion of Our Lord, a vast work in which all the sculptor's qualities and defects are revealed . In the church of St Miguel are an Immaculate Conception and a St Francis . Mention should also be made of the Christ at the Well in the church of Santa Maria dellas Gracias in Murcia, and of the sculptures in San Pedro and in the Capucine monastery in Murcia . Zarcillo worked in wood, which was coloured . The ascription of the stone sculptures on the facade of the St Nicolas Church in Murcia to him rests on conjecture . He died at Murcia in 1781 . See B . Haendcke, Studien zur Geschichte der spanischen Plastik (Strassburg, 1900) .