Andean Artists in Colonial Quito: - College of William and Mary

48 The Monitor - Winter 2011
commission, which states that that sculpture was to be located “in the
space of the altar where this is the holy crucifix” (Figure 2). 37
The Dolorosa in Spain and Quito
The popularity of the cult of the Dolorosa was on the rise in the
Hispanic World during the latter part of the seventeenth century, leading
to an increase of the depictions of the particular theme in painting and
sculpture. 38 In his 1670s bust, The Virgin of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa),
the famed Spanish sculptor, Pedro de Mena, depicts an anguished
Dolorosa whose furrowed eyebrows, downcast eyes, and parted lips all
convey emotional intensity. 39 Particularly important is the way in which
Mena portrays her face and hands, as both exhibit remarkable level of
naturalism and attention to detail. The artist has carefully captured the
reddened skin tone that is so often associated with expressions of grief.
Throughout the seventeenth century, the cult of the Dolorosa was
so prevalent and in demand that sculptural examples from the Spanish
schools were exported from Spain to Austria and even as far as Mexico. 40
Given its position in the New World, Quito would also become an outpost
for these peninsular works of the Dolorosa. Discussing colonial sculpture,
Gabrielle Palmer asserts: “Although indebted to the forms and techniques
of the parent Andalucian sculpture, the Quitenian sculptors nonetheless
exhibit a style and spirit entirely their own.” 41 Noting that parallels to
Spanish sculpture become increasingly difficult to make as the seventeenth
century progresses, Palmer describes the principal characteristics of
Quiteñan sculpture as typically of the “de vestir type,” and possessing a
“highly polished encarnación,” or surface finish on the flesh tones. 42
However, the “de vestir” or “clothed” sculpture is not solely a Quiteñan
convention; a second Spanish Dolorosa proves that both Spain and New
World Quito practiced the dressing of their sculptures. The anonymous
sculpture of the Virgen de la Esperanza Macarena of the late seventeenth
century also wears an elaborate garb, including a cream-colored wimple.
This description certainly applies to the sculpture of the Dolorosa
commissioned from Nicolas Pauca and Francisco Monga by Doctor Don
Joseph Ramírez Dávila in 1693. Pauca and Monga’s Dolorosa is clearly
an imagen de vestir, clad in a blue cloth garment, a black mantle edged in
lace, and a white wimple. Additionally, the face of the Dolorosa, somber