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
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 |
Santiago Tejuapam |
| We do not have pictures from Santiago Tejuapam.
Crucifix
The glass is dusty, making the crucifix hard to see. Local Name: El Señor de la Misericordia.Site: Church of Santiago Tejuapam. Location: In a glass case in the upper center of the main altar (see note). Size: About 3½
feet (105 cm.) Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Achiutla,
Santa Ana del
Valle1, Santa
Ana del Valle2, Santa Ana del
Valle3, Cuilapan,
Etla, 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,
Tlacolula,
Xoxocotlán1, Xoxocotlán2, Xoxocotlán3, Xoxocotlán4, Yanhuitlán1, Yanhuitlán2, Yanhuitlán
Convento1, Yanhuitlán
Convento2, Yanhuitlán
Convento3, Yanhuitlán
Convento4, Yanhuitlán
Convento5, Yanhuitlán Ayuxi Chapel, Zimatlán. Saint Peter the Apostle Old but crude. The garments seem quite new. The keys are in the figure's right hand, and a staff is in the left. The left ring finger is missing. Local Name: San Pedro. Basis for Identification: Keys,
triple cross. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: Organ area off the choir loft. Media and construction: Painted wood, fabric garments. Eyes: painted. Size: About
5½ feet (165 cm.) Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Coixtlahuaca,
Etla, Huitzo, Mitla, Díaz
Ordaz,
Tamazulapan, Teitipac1,
Teitipac2,
Teotitlán1,
Teotitlán2, Teposcolula1,
Teposcolula2, Yanhuitlán. External Links: Unidentified Male Saint The figure holds an infant in both hands. The garments are thickly sculpted, indicating they are wood rather than stiffened cloth. The face and hands have a repainted, rubbery look. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: In a glass case in a retablo on a stone base along the north wall of the nave (see note). Media and construction: Polychrome. Eyes: painted, with lashes. Size: About 5 feet (150 cm.) Saint Isidore the Laborer The bulls are separate from the statue and could be of separate provenance. The backs of the hands are naturalistically detailed, but in other respects this does not seem to be an old statue. Local Name: San Isidro Labrador. Basis for Identification: Oxen. Other characteristics: Guayabera, green trousers. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: On a rudimentary wooden shelf on the north wall of the nave (see note). Media and construction: Glass eyes, fabric garments. Size: About 3½
feet (105 cm.) Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Coixtlahuaca, Huitzo, Tamazulapan, Teitipac, Teposcolula. External Links: Christ Fallen with the Cross The figure has fallen under the cross. Realistic blood flows from the crown of thorns and the scuffs on the knuckles. Basis for Identification: Cruciform halo, stylized crown of thorns. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: In a glass case in a retablo on a stone stand in the north wall of the nave (see note). Media and construction: Wood,
gesso, paint; glass eyes, no lashes, wig; Size: About 3½ feet (105 cm.) from the ground to the highest reach of the knuckles. Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Coixtlahuaca,
Etla, Guelavia,
Huitzo,
Teposcolula,
Zimatlán. External Links: Christ Child The statue has an eighteenth-century look. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: Left of the fallen Christ (see above). Media and construction: Wood, gesso,
paint. Size: About 2 feet (60 cm.) Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Achiutla (with Sacred Heart), Coixtlahuaca1, Coixtlahuaca2, Huitzo (boy, not infant), Teotitlán, Yanhuitlán1 (in case with crucifix), Yanhuitlán2. External Links: Resurrected Christ
Basis for Identification: Vexillum, brief loincloth. Other characteristics: The navel shows. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: Right of the fallen Christ (see above). Media and construction: Polychrome loincloth. Eyes: glass, with painted lashes. Hair: wig. Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Achiutla, Santa Ana del Valle, Cuilapan, Mitla, Teitipac, Teotitlán, Teposcolula, Yanhuitlán, Zaachila. External Links: Virgin and Child The pattern on the cape matches the carved "drapery" behind the statue, which depends from a cupola. The cape has been repainted, but the left sleeve seems to be polychrome beneath the dust and the touch-ups. The look on the face is not like those of the earlier santos. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: Lower section of the retablo at the east end of the north wall of the nave (see note). Media and construction: Apparently polychrome. Eyes: glass. Hair: sculpted. Size: About 3½
feet (105 cm.) Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Coixtlahuaca, Coixtlahuaca2, Cuilapan, Guelavia, Huitzo, Díaz Ordaz1, Díaz Ordaz2, Zimatlán. External Links: Santo Stripped to the Waist The figure is stripped as if for flogging. It has a five o'clock shadow. The garments flowing from the waist are polychrome. As with the Virgin and Child below, their pattern matches the carved drapery depending from a cupola above. The skin has a fine, lifelike sheen. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: Upper section of the retablo at the east end of the north wall of the nave (see note). Media and construction: Polychrome. The eyes may be glass. Size: About 3½
feet (105 cm.) Compare santos of Saint Nicholas
Factor: Díaz
Ordaz (no photograph), Guelavia,
Teitipac,
Yanhuitlán
(in Dominic group), Zaachila1,
Zaachila2. External Links: The right hand holds the crook, from the top of which hangs the vial. The figure holds the book, closed, in the crook of the left arm. The skin may have been repainted. It has a rubbery look, although the sheen is not bad. Local Name: Santiago. Basis for Identification: Our notes say "Shepherd's crook with vial, book." Presumably the crook and vial are actually a pilgrim's staff and gourd, common attributes of this saint. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: Lower center of the main altar. Media and construction: Polychrome. The eyes may be glass. Size: About 5 feet (150 cm.) Comparable santos in Oaxaca (St.
James as Pilgrim): Tilantongo. External Links: Unidentified Female Saint The figure wears a veil and wimple. The right hand holds out a small cross toward the viewer. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: Left of the Santiago statue (see above) in the main altar. Media and construction: Polychrome. Size: About 4½ feet (135 cm.) Saint Catherine of Alexandria? The right hand holds a pole. As part of the sculpture, a severed head is at the figure's right foot, face up. Basis for Identification: European
representations of Catherine of Alexandria sometimes
set the severed head of Maximian at her feet. However,
we did not see the most common attribute of St.
Catherine, the broken wheel. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: Right of the Santiago statue on the main altar. Media and construction: Polychrome. Comparable santos in Oaxaca: None
that we saw. Our Lady of Mount Carmel
The face has a charming lifelike blush, but the hands have a rubbery look. Local Name: La Virgen del Carmen Basis for Identification: Child, brown habit, bib, lace veil, scapulars. Other characteristics: goes here Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: In a glass case in a retablo on a stone base at the east end of the south wall of nave (see note). Media and construction: Wood,
gesso, paint, fabric
garments. Eyes:
glass, with lashes. Hair: wig on virgin, sculpted hair
on child. Size: About 5½
feet (165 cm.) Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Coixtlahuaca
main altar, Cuilapan, Ejutla, Etla, Guelavia, Huitzo, Teitipac, Teposcolula,
Tlaxiaco,
Xoxocotlán,
Zaachila,
Zimatlán. External Links: Saint Michael?
Local Name: San Miguel? Basis for Identification: Greaves.
Other
characteristics:
The figure wears a shirt, vest, and cape – as well
as a Phrygian cap with a cross stuck onto its
front. Site: Church of Santiago
Tejuapam. Location: Above the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (see above). Media and construction: Fabric garments. Size: About 3 feet (90 cm.) Comparable santos in Oaxaca: For the
cap, compare the
"San Benito" in Teitipac. For St. Michael compare
Achiutla1,
Achiutla2,
Achiutla3,
Achiutla4,
Cuilapan,
Huitzo, Ocotlán,
Tamazulapan, Teotitlán,
Teposcolula1,
Teposcolula2, Teposcolula3,
Yanhuitlán. External Links:
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.
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