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 Teotitlán del Valle:

Christ Child
Christ in a coffin
Christ: Ecce Homo
Crucifix (1)
Crucifix (2)
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows (Soledad)
 Our Lady of the Rosary
Palm Sunday Christ
Resurrection of Christ
St. Francis of Assisi
St. Hyacinth
St. John the Baptist
St. John the Evangelist
St. Joseph (?)
St. Mary Madgalene
St. Peter the Apostle (1)
St. Peter the Apostle (2)
 St. Sebastian
Trinity
Unidentified Franciscan saint
Virgin Mary (1)
Virgin Mary (2)

Other santos not photographed
Virgin Mary
Virgin Mary:
The hands stretch forward, left palm up and right fingers curled. The youthful face is delicate and has an oriental cast with wide-set eyes. The upper lip has a fetching indentation and the mouth as a whole is subtly realistic. Beneath the white fabric cape, the simple robe is mostly gold; the black and gold mantle is caught at the waist. It has a pattern of wild flowers of various types and sizes.

Site: Church of Santa María de la Natividad (Preciosa Sangre de Cristo), Teotitlán del Valle.

Media and construction: Polychrome, fabric cape. Eyes: glass. Hair: wig over carved hair. Closed mouth.

Size: About 3 feet (90 cm.)

Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Achiutla, Etla1 (in the Soledad group) Etla2, Guelavia1, Guelavia2, Nochixtlán, Ocotlán, Teotitlán 1, Tilantongo1, Tilantongo2, Yanhuitlán1, Yanhuitlán2, Zimatlán.

External Link:
Wikimedia Commons: Statues of Virgin Mary in Mexico.

Next: A statue of an unidentified Franciscan

Previous santo

Introduction to Teotitlán 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.