Provenance:

Private Collection, Uruguay, for the last 90 years.

Dated 1673 on the reverse (Fig. 1), this exceptional relief is an early example of a distinctly Spanish American artistic tradition that combined painting and sculpture. Beginning in the 17th century, local craftsmen in the town of Huamanga in the province of Ayacucho, Peru began to specialize in the production of small-scale, polychrome religious sculptures made from local stone. Known as Peruvian alabaster for its translucency and workability, piedra de Huamanga (or Huamanga stone) is a highly prized material, and the distinctive sculptures made from it are among the most accomplished examples of carving from the New World. 

Huamanga stone was most often carved into small independent sculptures and sculptural groups. Reliefs of this kind are comparatively rare and desirable for their elaborate imagery and their approximation of painted compositions. The subject of the work is an advocation of the Virgin that was popularized in Colombia in the 16th century. The composition derives from an original painting of the Virgin of the Rosary that was commissioned in 1555 by Antonio de Santana, who kept the painting in a chapel on his estate. That painting had been so seriously damaged from water and exposure to be almost unrecognizable. After Santana’s death, his widow took it with her to Chiquinquirá and placed it in a small oratory that had a straw roof and no doors, which caused further damage to the image. Around 1585 Santana’s sister-in-law, María Ramos, decided to restore the oratory. Famously, it was divinely restored on a single day in the year 1586. An indigenous woman named Isabel happened to passed by, and she saw that the washed-out colors of the canvas had regained their original brilliance. The miracle caught the attention of the local populace and people in the surrounding region. In 1636 the Dominican order took charge of the site and the miraculous painting, and devotion to and depictions of the Virgin quickly spread to Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru.

The original painting of the Virgin of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá and the majority of later copies are oriented in a horizontal format (Fig. 2). Our relief is vertically oriented—allowing for a larger view of the sky and putti above—but follows the basic formula of the composition. The Virgin is shown holding a rosary and a scepter in one arm and the Christ child in another while being crowned by two putti. The central holy figures are surrounded by a flaming aureole and are accompanied by Saint Anthony of Padua (the name saint of the original patron, Antonio de Santana) on the left, and the apostle Saint Andrew holding the X-shaped cross on which he was crucified on the right. Unusually, Saint Anthony holds a palm branch (rather than a lily) and his head is partially covered by the hood of his habit.

By their size and semi-precious material Huamanga stone reliefs of this kind were mostly intended for domestic devotion—prized as artistic objects, but providing religious and spiritual comfort.