Featured Is this a Russian or Mexican Icon or Retablo?

Discussion in 'Antique Discussion' started by moontymes, Mar 3, 2020.

  1. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    It is a beauty, but she is looking straight ahead and Jesus is on her left arm instead of her right.
    It is those details that make moontymes' madonna different from most other ones.

    This is what the Cuban one looks like in the sanctuary:

    [​IMG]

    We used to have a classic image of her at home (my mother collected madonnas), with those sailors below, like this one:
    [​IMG]
     
    moontymes and i need help like this.
  2. 2manybooks

    2manybooks Well-Known Member

    I don't think the Christian iconography is so strict about something such as the tilt of her head (not like all of the subtleties in Buddhist imagery), but there may be significance in which side the child is on, and what Mary is holding. In @moontymes image, she appears to be holding a wreath of roses. But try googling Madonna/Mary and roses and you get way too much stuff to wade through. You would think there would be a catalog of Mary iconography, but I haven't found one so far. My impression from the style, though, is that it's origin is somewhere Spanish/Spanish colonial.
     
    moontymes likes this.
  3. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    In the case of these miraculous statues etc of the Madonna it is not a matter of Christian iconography, but of folk religion and the difference between the countless local Madonna statues.
    Remember, folk religion has little to do with formal iconography, hagiology, theology, etc. It is considered superstition by many educated people. In a way it is a triumph of ancient traditions over institutionalized Christianity.

    About all these Madonnas and their significant differences:
    Locals and pilgrims are very particular about the look of their favourite Madonna. For instance the farmers going to Hakendover each year will be very upset if they are suddenly confronted with a Madonna who watches over the safety of sailors. Likewise, people seeking healing in Lourdes won't be happy to be fobbed off with a Madonna which will cause them to have a child in the following year.:eek:

    Every year a procession from a town to the southwest of us passes through my street on its way to to a Madonna in a village to the east of us. People still go to commemorate the fact that the town was saved from an epidemic of the plague centuries ago.

    [​IMG]

    If their Madonna would be replaced by a Spanish one, the people simply wouldn't go, church or no church. This is the one they want, nothing else:

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Darkwing Manor

    Darkwing Manor Well-Known Member

    Lovely!
     
    Any Jewelry likes this.
  5. moontymes

    moontymes Well-Known Member

    Thanks everyone! I too think it's Spanish colonial.
     
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