Juan Pascual de Mena, the eighteenth-century sculptor and image maker, probably trained under the French sculptors who designed the fountains at La Granja, specifically with Dumandré and Pitué. However, we have little biographical information about his early life. Some scholars associate him with Felipe de Castro. In the 1730s he enjoyed great prestige in Madrid. In 1744, when the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts was still being set up, the Preparatory Board appointed him director of Sculpture and he took up office on its foundation in 1752. In 1771 he was appointed to the post of director general of the academy. He was also proposed as an honourable member of the Academy of San Carlos in Valencia. His style belongs to the neoclassical academicism first introduced to Spain by Felipe de Castro.
He made a number of religious works of note for the church of San Fermín de los Navarros in Madrid (1746), which have since disappeared), and also some items for churches in Bilbao, sculpted between 1754 and 1755. He is believed to have been the author of the Christ of the Good Death in the church of San Jerónimo in Madrid. He collaborated with Ventura Rodríguez on the altarpiece dedicated to St. Ildephonsus in the cathedral of Toledo (1779). With the accession of King Charles III to the throne, the Toledo sculptor made a marble bust of the monarch (1764, Academy of San Fernando). He also submitted a plaster and wood model to the competition convened by the king for an equestrian monument to King Philip V. He participated in the programme of public sculptures made during this period in Madrid, helping to decorate the Royal Palace and also creating one of the best-known sculptural pieces in the capital, the Fountain of Neptune on the Paseo del Prado, designed by Ventura Rodríguez (1781).
Juan Pascual de Mena, the eighteenth-century sculptor and image maker, probably trained under the French sculptors who designed the fountains at La Granja, specifically with Dumandré and Pitué. However, we have little biographical information about his early life. Some scholars associate him with Felipe de Castro. In the 1730s he enjoyed great prestige in Madrid. In 1744, when the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts was still being set up, the Preparatory Board appointed him director of Sculpture and he took up office on its foundation in 1752. In 1771 he was appointed to the post of director general of the academy. He was also proposed as an honourable member of the Academy of San Carlos in Valencia. His style belongs to the neoclassical academicism first introduced to Spain by Felipe de Castro.
He made a number of religious works of note for the church of San Fermín de los Navarros in Madrid (1746), which have since disappeared), and also some items for churches in Bilbao, sculpted between 1754 and 1755. He is believed to have been the author of the Christ of the Good Death in the church of San Jerónimo in Madrid. He collaborated with Ventura Rodríguez on the altarpiece dedicated to St. Ildephonsus in the cathedral of Toledo (1779). With the accession of King Charles III to the throne, the Toledo sculptor made a marble bust of the monarch (1764, Academy of San Fernando). He also submitted a plaster and wood model to the competition convened by the king for an equestrian monument to King Philip V. He participated in the programme of public sculptures made during this period in Madrid, helping to decorate the Royal Palace and also creating one of the best-known sculptural pieces in the capital, the Fountain of Neptune on the Paseo del Prado, designed by Ventura Rodríguez (1781).