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
Santiago Cuilapan:
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Immaculate Heart of Mary |
Immaculate Heart of Mary: The statue has a blue body beneath the clothing. The palms-out position of the hands close to the body suggests movable arms, probably jointed at the shoulder. The face appears to have been retouched: the eyebrows are somewhat heavy and done in a duller, blacker paint that does not match the high sheen of the cheeks. The net veil with a pearl diadem is of the style worn by quinceañeras and often donated to their patron saints. The 7 inch heart (18 cm.) is painted red, in a sunburst of silver metal. A plaster female saint kneels at the foot of the statue. Local Name: Corazón de
María Basis for Identification: White dress, blue stole, net veil with diadem. Site: Church of Santiago Cuilapan. Location: Midway along the south wall of nave, in a glass case (see note). Size: About 5½ feet (165 cm.) Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Huitzo, Mitla, Teitipac,
Teposcolula,
Zaachila,
Zimatlán. External Links: Next: Also
along the south wall, a statue
of St. Michael the Archangel Introduction to Santiago Cuilapan 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. |