Totimehuacan 2: the altarpieces

San Francisco Totimehuacan - parish church front (Niccolo Brooker)

In our first post we described the now abandoned buildings of the early Franciscan monastery at Totimehuacan. Here we look at significant colonial paintings and altarpieces, some saved from the monastery, that are preserved in the nearby parish church.

  

Perhaps the crown jewel of the furnishings is the well preserved side altarpiece illustrating the Miracles of St. Anthony of Padua, whose statue occupies the center niche.

  

Still in generally excellent condition, the retablo, although fashioned in Plateresque style with elegant, fluted Corinthian columns, is thought to date from the early 17th century. The paintings are rendered in a light and colorful popular style.

A related work of quality is this ornately carved and gilded side retablo of the Calvary, notable for its almost life-size statues of Christ Crucified and the attendant Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist.

Please review our previous posts on Pueblan altarpieces of note: 

Tecali; Puebla Cathedral; Cuauhtinchan; Atlixco Third Order; Atlixco San Francisco; San José Chiapa; 

text and images © 1989 & 2017  Richard D. Perry