Crucifix:
This is an unusual crucifix for Oaxaca. It has an ethereal
look. The eyes are fully closed and the face is peaceful.
The hair frames the face in stylized curls. The body
stretches gracefully down to the fan shape of the toes.
The blood is more restrained than one would expect in a
piece this old and is used most significantly at the feet
to emphasize the fan shape. The carved perizoma
hangs from a thin string at the hips in
pronounced and complex folds of what the viewer is to take
as transparent linen. At the right hip one end of the
perizoma is gathered into the string as if knotted. The
crown of thorns is very narrow.
The hands are damaged. There are chips in the surface
of the gesso in the arms and the right chest. There is a
significant crack at the top of the right thigh. The
figure has been chained to the bottom of the cross,
presumably for security.
The crosspieces are green, dowel-shaped, carved and
decorated with heavy gilt. The cross is set into a
mountain sculptured in the fashion of Renaissance
landscapes. The design is of heaped-up rocks, on some of
which the artist has painted delicate leaves of grass
and golden shadows. The crucifix is set so deeply into
the mountain that the figure's feet rest on the rocks.
Local Name: El Señor de la
Misericordia
Site: Church of San
Pedro y San Pablo Etla.
Location: Third
bay in the north wall of the nave (see note).
Media and construction: Wood,
gesso, paint. Sculpted hair and perizoma.
Size: About
5½ feet in all (168 cm.)
Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Achiutla,
Santa Ana del
Valle1, Santa
Ana del Valle2, Santa Ana del
Valle3, Cuilapan, Guelavia,
Mitla, Nochixtlán,
Tamazulapan1,
Tamazulapan2,
Teitipac1,
Teitipac2,
Teitipac3, Teitipac Our
Lady of the Rosary,
Teotitlán1, Teotitlán2, Teposcolula1,
Teposcolula2,
Teposcolula3
(in Rosary case), Teposcolula
Convento1, Teposcolula
Convento2, Tilantongo1,
Tilantongo2,
Tlacolula1, Tlacolula2,
Xoxocotlán1, Xoxocotlán2, Xoxocotlán3, Xoxocotlán4, Yanhuitlán1,
Yanhuitlán2, Yanhuitlán
Convento1, Yanhuitlán
Convento2, Yanhuitlán
Convento3, Yanhuitlán
Convento4, Yanhuitlán
Convento5, Yanhuitlán Ayuxi Chapel, Zimatlán.
External Links:
Wikimedia Commons:
Crucifixes
in
Mexico
Catholic Encyclopedia: Archaeology
of the Cross and Crucifix
Wikipedia: Crucifix
Christian Iconography: The
Crucifixion
Next: On
the main altar, a statue
of Christ fallen under the Cross
Previous santo
Introduction to San Pedro y San
Pablo Etla
Santos Home Page
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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