La Virgen del Carmen

Cuilapan, Oaxaca, Mexico

La Virgen del Carmen (Child, scapulars, bib, crown; white garments). 
Wood, gesso, paint.
Bald beneath wig, glass eyes, closed mouth; fabric garments; approximately 5 feet tall. 

This Carmen is different from the traditional and the statue may originally have represented a different saint. The garments are not brown but white brocade trimmed in gold; yet the bib, reaching to mid-calf, marks them as unquestionably the Carmen garments. Only the virgin has a scapular; traditionally both figures have one. Finally, the fine features and sheen of the face make the statue seem older than other Carmens.

In the same case is a small statue kneeling at the virgin's feet. it is of a full-bearded male dressed in polyester garments. It wears a white veil held on with a round coil such as is depicted in modern Biblical illustrations. It wears a green, collared robe and a long gold wrap in apparent imitation of the robe and mantle of the older, larger statue that stands to the right of the case and which we identify as Saint Joseph. This would make the glass case a niche for the Holy Family.

More Latin Santos of the Virgin Mary