NM Wood Retablo by Molleno, Nuestra Senora de la Dolores

Antonio Molleno

1820 | Wood, Water Based Paints | Item 2282

This is a beautiful and rare New Mexican retablo by Antonio Molleno. The topic shows Nuestra Senora de la Dolores, or Our Lady of Sorrows. The sword enters her left side where the heart is. Her hands cup the area the sword enters. Her face is plain in expression, surrounded by her cloak and the halo emanating outword from there. She wears a red dress under her cloak. She is put into the center of an oval design, flanked on each side by pedestals. The only colors used are the background off-white and the soft red. This is where the power of the retablo comes from: the simplicity of the forms coupled with the larger void spaces and that beautiful red anchoring the surrounding areas.