spanish colonial art

Altar Screen, Molleno

Altar screens like this one were generally placed behind the altar or on the walls in a church. Molleno is referred to as a santero—an artist who creates santos, holy images that served as devotional figures and played an important role in church, community, and family rituals. The painted wooden panels within the frame, called retablos, depict images of Catholic saints, the Christ Child (as seen in the center of the top row), and the Virgin Mary (as seen in the right side of the bottom row). The figures portrayed here would have been familiar to most of the church-going population in New Mexico in the 1820s. Many of these people could not read, so images were used to tell stories.

The empty frame on the bottom row probably held a sculpture of a saint, called a bulto. Bultos were also made by santeros.