Puerto Rican Santo de Palo, Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, Painted Wood Figure

Caribbean, Puerto Rico. A carved and painted wooden santo of Christ as the Sagrado Corazón (Sacred Heart), made for devotion in the Puerto Rican santero tradition. The standing figure is carved as a narrow, frontal column on a rectangular plinth. He wears an ivory tunic that falls in shallow vertical folds, and a red mantle sweeps across his hips and drops down his left side. Black hair frames a gently bearded face with lowered eyes. Both hands are drawn up to the chest, where the painted heart appears: red, topped with a small cross, and ringed by a halo of black dashed rays. The carving is simple and economical, the way a santero worked, and the painted heart carries the meaning. Small images like this one usually stood on a home altar or in a niche, where they were the focus of prayer. The Sacred Heart is one of the central devotional images of the Roman Catholic Church. It stands for Christ's boundless, all-consuming love for humankind. The modern devotion is usually traced to Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun at the convent of Paray-le-Monial in France. In 1673, while the Sacrament was exposed on the altar, she reported a vision of Christ with his five wounds shining like five suns. His breast opened, and his heart was revealed as the source of that light. Her account spread the image of the radiant, flaming heart, often crowned with a cross, which became a fixture of Catholic homes. In 1856 Pope Pius IX extended the Feast of the Sacred Heart to the whole Church, and the subject became widely popular in the second half of the nineteenth century. In Puerto Rico, carved wooden saints (santos de palo) were made for household altars, where families kept their personal devotions far from the island's few parish churches. Most santeros were self-taught or trained within their families. They carved local woods, painted them in bright colors, and worked toward a direct, legible form rather than academic naturalism. The Sacred Heart joined their repertoire alongside older favorites such as the Three Kings and the Virgin of Monserrate. On this figure it is reduced to a few confident painted marks: a red heart, a cross, and a crown of rays. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 206112

Stima:€224.64

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