* all images property of Jeff Phegley (www.jeffphegley.com)

Monday, December 15, 2008

Vallarta Quemadura

Down in Mexico they broadcast Lucha Libre (free wrestling) every night and it is really fun to watch. The masks are especially interesting.

Watercolor on paper

6 comments:

Kate said...

I love it. Can we hang it with the retablo?

Anonymous said...

what's a retablo?

Jeff said...

Aside from being found behind the altar, “similar ornamental structures are built and carved over facades and doorways” (Fernandez 23). The oil painted retablos generated the need for “small retablo factories” to be established in order to “reproduce the same images” which were then “sold to devout believers who displayed them in home altars to honor their patron Saints.”[2] Not only were the retablos purchased by those wanting to show devotion to their patron saints, they were also given when the saints were there for their devotees in hard times. When one wanted to express gratitude, they could give retablos that described “the miraculous deed of a saint to whom the petitioner turned to in a time of need” (Correa 113). All of the numerous saints depicted on the retablos were thought to each remedy an array of problems faced on a daily basis. People often called upon these saints to bless them for events such as harvests or feasts.

(Wikipedia 2008)

Kate said...

Wow, that's a lot of words.

I would have said "an oil on metal or the like of a small size commissioned by an individual to petition a saint in regards to a particular circumstance or problem." Like, say, a Mexican wrestler giving thanks to St Muchael for success in a particularly difficult match. (Which should be framed and hanged next to this watercolor.)

Kate said...

That should have been St Michael, sorry, the warrior archangel.

We have a retablo at the museum that's an oil on tin, 1890, and has a crucifixion on one side and a murder on the other. I don't know enough Spanish to figure out the inscription, which is a little corroded as well. We also saw one down there commemorating someone getting hit by a bus.

Luke said...

Sweet, the Mexican wrestling leagues are awesome. Good representation!