RUIZ GIJÓN, Francisco
(b. 1653 Utrera, d. 1720 Sevilla)
Spanish sculptor. He was born in Utrera but moved to Seville at a young age. When he was 15 he enrolled in the Sevillian academy La Lonja and continued to study there even after becoming an apprentice to the sculptor Andrés Cansino (1636-1670). Around this time he was also influenced by Pedro Roldán, whose Baroque style he assimilated. By 1671 he was a master sculptor and by 1673 he had set up his own workshop. He was only 21 when he made Saint John of the Cross (c. 1675, National Gallery of Art, Washington) for the Convent of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios in Seville.
Little is known of his later career but during his lifetime he was renowned for the emotional quality and expressive style of his images.
