Latin America, Mexico, ca. 1954. A sweet ex-voto devotional painting, hand painted on heavy gauge tin. The composition presents a mother holding her child in one arm and a candle in the other which she holds up toward the vision of the Virgin flanked by angels who hold a banner that reads "Mater Inmaculada Orans" before her. Below is an inscription that roughly translates, "Senora Galinda R. was screaming when she found her daughter Juanita seriously ill and asked the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos (of the Lakes) to cure her and offered this retablo to the Virgin. Miraculously, she conceded and fullfilled this request. Cerritos, SLP (San Luis Potosi) February 1954." Size: 9.125" W x 6.75" H (23.2 cm x 17.1 cm)
Ex-votos are narrative paintings created to ask for healing or blessing that are popular in Mexican visual culture. This tradition was inspired by the Greeks and was brought to the New World by the Spaniards. These votive paintings were hung in a church or placed adjacent to an image in order to celebrate and give thanks for the recovery of the donor or the donor's love one(s) from an illness or dangerous situation. In essence, ex-votos represent the spiritual or physical gains received by the donor. These paintings include hand painted passages that relate the details of the cure or the rescue. Typically, however, this commentary is replete with regional dialect and difficult to translate. Nevertheless, if one is familiar with the Spanish language, it is possible to get the gist of these anecdotal paintings, especially given the visual imagery.
Provenance: ex-Locati Gallery
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#162784
Condition
Surface wear with stains and abraded areas commensurate with age. Imagery and inscription are still relatively legible. Usual waviness and bending to corners of the tin sheet.