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 Teotitlán del
Valle: Christ
Child |
St. Francis of Assisi |
St.
Francis of Assisi This statue is different from others of St. Francis. It has a pained, intense look. The eyes are very large, the neck muscular, and the hands broad and strong. The left hand is set palm-outward, as if to hold a child, and the right hand is thrust forward with the thumb and index finger touching. Though the head is well carved, the skin has a rubbery look and the eyes seem overly dramatic. The feet are large and clumsily carved. The big toe, the second toe, and the middle toe of the right foot are missing, and what appear to be nails have been driven into the tips of the other toes. There are two cinctures. Someone has safety-pinned a small cross with patch of blue material to the habit near the second knot on one of the cinctures. A picture in front of the statue shows the figure holding the halo in the left hand, but at the time of our visit the halo was on the head. Local Name: San Francisco de
Asís. Basis for Identification: Brown habit, knotted cinctures, halo. Site: Church of Santa María
de la Natividad (Preciosa Sangre de Cristo),
Teotitlán del Valle. Location: Small altar right of the first large altar along the south wall of the nave (see note). Media and construction: Wood, gesso, paint, fabric garment. Eyes: glass. Hair: carved. Closed mouth. Size: About 3 feet (90 cm.) Comparable santos in Oaxaca: Ejutla. External Links: Next:
Moving to the right, we find another altar with a statue of St. Peter
the Apostle. Introduction to Teotitlán del
Valle 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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