Saint Nicholas Factor:
The skull rests on the open left palm.
Much dust has covered the statue, but one can still admire
the life-like sheen to the skin. The detailing of the
hands is rather perfunctory, as is the skull. The right
hand is broken and hanging from the wrist by little more
than a thread. Red wax has been drizzled onto the fracture
at the wrist, as if to represent blood. The garments and
cord are part of the carving.
The statue has been repainted, but high on the breast
of the habit some of the most recent paint has chipped
away, revealing a glint of gold beneath that seems
certain to be polychrome. There is a similar chip at the
left shoulder.
Local Name: San
Nicolás
Basis for Identification: The
tonsure, brown habit, and cord identify the figure as a
Franciscan, the skull and halo as St. Nicholas Factor, a
renowned contemplative. Teitipac and
Zaachila also have statues of this saint, who was
identified as "San Nicolás" by our informants
there. For more information on this saint, see the
discussion of his statue at Santo Domingo
Díaz Ordaz.
Site: Church of San
Juan Guelavia.
Location: On a table
along the south wall of nave, right of the polychrome Virgin Mary
(see note).
Media and construction: Polychrome?
Eyes: glass, with lashes.
Size: About 2 feet (60 cm.)
Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Díaz
Ordaz (no photograph), Guelavia, Teitipac,
Yanhuitlán
(in Dominic group), Zaachila1,
Zaachila2.
External Links:
Wikimedia Commons:
Statues
of Saint Nicholas Factor in Mexico
SQPN: Saint
Nicholas Factor
TheRealPresence.Org: Blessed
Nicholas Factor
Wikipedia: Nicolás
Factor
Christian Iconography: Saint
Nicholas Factor
Next: A statue of an
unidentified saint
Previous santo
Introduction to San Juan Guelavia
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.
|
