San Antonio de Padua

NameSculpture/Bulto

Artist Artist Not Recorded

Place collectedNew Mexico, United States, North America

MediumPaint, gesso, wood

Dimensions34 cm high not including base

Credit LineMuseum of International Folk Art, gift of the Historical Society of New Mexico, A5.1956.7

Object numberA5.1956.7

DescriptionTall slender figure in monk's habit modelled in folds, cloth and yeso cloak hangs down back and over arms. Girdle originally modelled in high relief, (Cord) has lost part around waist but vertical end OK. Head very small in proportion to body, with small, whimsical face. Hands abnormally large--probably santero repairs of all fingers. Hands are extended, elbows bent, in pose to hold an infant lying on its back. This pose of San Antonio is found in New Mexican bultos of early type, (Those with folds and relief in their habits, as compared with the smooth, conical shaped figures of later santero renderings), while later images of kSan Antonio show him holding an erect infant seated on his arm (a confusion with local images of St. Joseph and the Santo Nino, who also sits upon an arm) and wearing a red dress. I do not recall having seen one of these San. Antonios in bulto form and holding a recumbent infant with both hands that was intact. (Cf Wells, A9.1954.B)