Bulging sculptures estofadas (gilded) with polished incarnation that show a pair of angels in veneration or worshiping God, as indicated in Psalm 148 "Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts”.[1] Each one is kneeling on a set of white clouds - with blue and golden strokes- that serve as their stand; their arms opened wide and extended outward. Their faces are oval shaped and plump; they have glass eyes painted blue. In angel no. 1, the outer edge of the iris is nuanced in dark blue. In comparison, the irises of the eyes of angel no. 2 are striped,[2] an effect that gives the eye more meaning and realism. The nose is straight, and the mouth tiny and thick. The hair is brown, worked simply at the height of the shoulders. Both angels have the peculiar feature of lacking wings; however, it is not uncommon to find angels without wings due to changes in the way they are represented over time. The religious art of the fourth century showed them in human form, as the prophet Daniel describes the appearance of the archangel Gabriel.[3] It was not until the fifth century that wings were added to them as a symbol of their readiness to perform the will of God and the ease with which they moved from one place to another.
Each angel is wearing a double sided gown (white and blue) with adornments and golden edges, and the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. It has two openings at the height of the thigh that reveal both legs and show a profuse golden decoration with phytomorphic elements, lines, points and rockeries (as seen in angel no. 1).[4] These decorations are large and completely cover the fabric. However, the adornments are simplified and more scarce in the lower part.[5] Over the gown is a doublet [6] with a round or square neck with a wavy hem around the waist. This garment is toad green and decorated with the same elements its respective gown presents. On their arms is a long red stole with silver edging, which falls to form several pleats, just like the gown, as if flapping in the wind, which gives the piece more movement.
Their footwear consists of an ocher colored half boot that leaves their toes uncovered. They are adorned by golden lines and finished off with a golden fabric that fits to the forehead with a green label pin with a rhomboid or square form. This type of footwear is almost a constant in the clothing of Hispanic angels.
We must point out that the decorative gold color of the clothing shows an enhancement. This is due to them being made over relief using a brush tip. This technique is called "shelling" and consists of using a metallic powder, in this case gold, with a non-aqueous binder that can be a resin or a varnish, with which a design is painted. The more layers it has, the greater volume it acquires. Although the primordial embossment was already done during bonding. In addition, the doublet is painted with gold varnish, which makes it shine and gives it a translucent aspect.[7] The pieces are in a generally good state of preservation, showing loss of polychrome, crackling and repainting in some areas of the arms, face and doublet.
These sculptures were found in a chapel next to the Holy Sacrament, whose devotion experienced a boom in the eighteenth century with the visions of Santa Juliana de Mont-Cornillon (1208) and the Eucharistic miracle of Bolsena (1264). Pope Urbano IV published the bull Transiturus in 1264, in which he orders the solemnity of Corpus Christi to be celebrated. By the fourteenth century, altars and chapels were built in honor of the blessed sacrament, as well as the brotherhoods that take care of them. The Eucharistic devotions from Spain to Hispanic America. In New Spain, one of the most ancient brotherhoods was brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament and Charity founded in the monastery of San Francisco in Mexico City on June 16, 1538, which lasted until the nineteenth century, when it gained significance again with the creation of international eucharistic congresses.
[1]. Psalm 148, 1-2.
[2]. In his book, Maquivar mentions that glass eyes were frequently used after the seventeenth century and that they are globes that are polychrome on one of their ends or painted hemispheres. In this case, the eyes of the angel have a double layer of painting, a first coat of color and another with radial lines.
[3]. Daniel 8, 15-16: “As I, Daniel, was trying to understand the meaning of this vision, someone who looked like a man stood in front of me”. The most ancient painting of the Annunciation, located in the catacomb of Priscila of the second and third centuries, shows the archangel Gabriel without wings. Daniel 9, 21: “As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice”.
[4]. Drawing in the form of an oyster shell; this is the main element of rococo decoration. Rococo designs and the use of smooth colors and pastel shades that were frequently used during the nineteenth century help us date the piece to the end of the eighteenth century.
[5]. The lower face of the sculptures is generally less worked and polychromed. This is possibly due to this face not being visible to the spectator, although this is not a generality. Consuelo Maquivar considers decorating or not decorating the piece in detail is more related to the skill and quality of the creator (Maquivar, 1996: 125). In this case the artist did not leave it without decoration to make it more decent.
[6]. The doublet is a stiff garment that covered the body from arms to waist, and was on the rise in Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Maidens also wore doublets, with the distinction that an extension was added to it at the waist in the form of an alpaca.
[7]. Gold varnish is the application of a colored varnish over a metallic sheet. It can also be done with a type of glue, which lowered costs. It gives a translucent effect and was used to imitate the brightness of precious stones. It gives the pieces more lucidity. It has been used since the Middle Ages, and since then it became generalized.
Sources:
Alarcon Cedillo, Roberto, and Armida Alonso Lutteroth, Tecnologia de la obra de arte en la época colonial. Pintura mural y de caballete, escultura y orfebreria, Mexico, Ibero, 1994.
Biblia de Jerusalen, Spain, [s.e.], 1975.
Los diccionarios del arte: Angeles y demonios, Madrid, Electa, 2004.
Maquivar, Maria del Consuelo, El imaginero novohispano y su obra. Las esculturas de Tepotzotlan, Mexico, INAH, 1995.
Reau, Louis, Iconografia del arte cristiano, translation by Daniel Alcoba, Barcelona, Serbal, 1996-1998.
Angeles: http://es.catholic.net/celebraciones/120/302/articulophp?id=581. Date of inquiry: February 12, 2010.
Doublet: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jub%C3%B3n. Date of inquiry: February 12, 2010.
