La Madre de los Dolores

Church of Santa Maria de la Asunción, Nochixtlan, Oaxaca, Mexico
Our Lady of Sorrows (Eyes heavenward, praying hands; beige mantle). 
Wood, gesso, paint; glass eyes, no lashes, bald; sculpted teeth with suggestion of tongue; fabric garments; approx. 5 feet tall. 

The sculpted feet are visible at the hem. The custodian reports that the entire statue is flesh colored beneath the clothing. The mantle and wimple are pinned together tightly so as to reveal only the Virgin's face and bald forehead. The hands hold a white handkerchief. Pain and sorrow are strongly expressed in the face. The skin is very finely done and has a life-like sheen, though in some places it has been banged away, revealing the gesso and a dark pattern in gold and red.


More of the Sorrowful Mother

Photo: Claire and Richard Stracke. This photo is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.