Santos in Oaxaca's Ancient ChurchesA 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 the church of Santo
Domingo Yanhuitlán: Christ
carrying the Cross Tour of the Ayuxi Chapel |
Unidentified Saint (most
likely St. Christopher) |
Unidentified saint (probably St. Christopher): The santo has dark shoulder-length hair tied at the forehead by a thin bandana. The clothes are beautifully sculpted from the wood in extravagant, wind-blown waves and decorated in restrained patterns of flowers and leaves. Some of the paint is lost, revealing the grain beneath. The legs, naked to mid-thigh, are most lifelike. The face has an unimpressive flat blush. Basis for Identification: We suggest identifying the statue as St. Christopher on the basis of the clothing, the turn of the head, and the position of the right hand. The latter is curved as if it once held a staff; the gaze to the left could be explained by a now-absent statue of the Christ Child on the shoulders. Both the staff and the child on the shoulders are features of traditional representations of St. Christopher. Moreover, he is usually represented in a short tunic and a flowing red cape (sometimes blue when the tunic is done in red). Trousers are unusual in traditional statues of this saint, but one in Austria has trousers that are rolled up as here. However, the saint is not usually shown to be as youthful as this figure in Oaxaca; indeed, he is sometimes shown with a gray beard. Site: Church of Santo Domingo Yanhuitlán. Location: On the left end of the 3rd retablo along the north wall of the nave (see note). Media and construction: Polychrome. Eyes: glass. Size: About 4 feet (120 cm.) External Links: Previous santo Introduction to the church at Yanhuitlán Note: On this site, references to the cardinal directions always assume that the main altar is at the east end of the church, the narthex or entry area at the west end, and the two walls of the nave on the north and south. (The nave is the long central section.) Actual orientations may differ. 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.
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