Santos in Oaxaca's Ancient Churches

A study of santos in 16th-century and other churches in Oaxaca, Mexico


By Claire and Richard Stracke
Funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

In Santa Ana del Valle:

Candelaria
Christ: Ecce Homo
Crucifix (1)
Crucifix (2)
Crucifix (3)
Crucifixion Group
Holy Family
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows (Soledad)
Palm Sunday Christ
St. Anne (2)
St. Anne (3)
St. Joseph
St. Peter of Verona (Peter Martyr)
Trinity

Other santos not photographed
St. Anne

Saint Anne:
The figure is finished in brilliant polychrome. The outside of the mantle is mostly gold, richly detailed with points and scratches, with a light scattering of blue and pink flowers. The inside is a design of stripes of gold and deep red with small flowers against the red background. The robe is green with gold flowers and leaves.

Our informants told us there had been no restoration of the statue. There is a smear of red paint near the veil and on the left cheek. The halo is a solid circle set at about a 60º angle behind the head, of the same gold as the inside of the veil and the edging of the robe, incised with a star shape. The book is tied to the left hand.

Local Name: Santa Ana.

Basis for Identification: Halo, wimple, open book in left hand.

Site: Church of Santa Ana del Valle.

Location: Center of the retablo of the main altar.

Media and construction: Polychrome. Eyes: painted.

Size: About 5 feet (150 cm.)

Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Santa Ana 2, Santa Ana 3, possibly a statue in Teotitlán.

External Links:
Wikimedia Commons: Statues of Saint Anne in Mexico
Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Anne
Wikipedia: Saint Anne
Christian Iconography: Saint Anne, Mother of the Virgin Mary

Next: A high relief of St. Anne with Mary and Jesus, on the right end of this same retablo

Previous santo

Introduction to Santa Ana del Valle

Santos Home Page

The photo shown here is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. You are free to share or remix it on two conditions: first, that you attribute it to the photographers, Claire and Richard Stracke, without implying any approval of your work on their part; second, that if you alter, transform, or build upon this photo, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.