San Juan Tabaá - the Last Judgment

For another in our series on large paintings of the Last Judgment in Mexico, we turn to Oaxaca. One particularly fine and well preserved example recently came to our attention hanging in the church of San Juan Tabaá, located in the remote Sierra de Juárez of central Oaxaca—a region richly endowed with colonial art and artifacts of high quality. 

Created by a skilled, and so far unidentified artist, this vast canvas is dated 1746. It approaches the grand theme of the Last Judgment using traditional imagery but executed in a direct, popular manner alive with vivid color and detail.

 

The rounded upper layer of the painting shows Christ in Judgment flanked by the Virgin in her blue robe and John the Baptist?.

Below, the Archangel Michael stands with the ranks of the Blessed*—saints, bishops, friars, nuns—each elegantly costumed and seemingly individually portrayed, headed by St. Peter holding the keys to Heaven and John the Evangelist?.

At St. Michael's feet, angels blow fanciful horns summoning the dead to the Day of Judgment, while in dramatic scenes below, the dead struggle from their tombs in bewilderment.

In the middle left, angels usher the Saved towards their heavenly reward, while on the right the Damned are herded by demons into the gaping Jaws of Hell below.

Unlike the depictions of the Last Judgment we described at Jarácuaro and Ziracuaretiro, no musical angels appear at Tabáa—an omission more than compensated for in our view by the animated expressions and dramatic details we see in this colonial masterwork.

* By tradition the Patriarchs, Holy Virgins, and Sibyls to the right, and on the left, the Apostles, Martyrs and Prophets.

text © 2018 Richard D. Perry

photographic images © 2018 by Niccolò Brooker, 

who brought this work of art to our attention.  Gracias Niccolò!
Please review our previous posts with mention of the Last Judgment:  El Llanito; Totimehuacan; Suchixtlahuaca; Huaquechula; Yanhuitlan; Xoxoteco; Actopan; Cuitzeo; Ixmiquilpan; Jarácuaro; Ziracuaretiro;

Calpan: the posa murals

On our sister site we describe in detail the celebrated, sculpted posa chapels of San Andrés Calpan. Unfortunately virtually nothing now remains of the murals that once enlivened the convento or the chapels, although a few fragments of their decoration survive.

Like those at Huejotzingo, the posa interiors were once richly ornamented with colorful murals. A few passages, recently restored to some degree, still cling to the steeply pitched ceilings. 

 

These picture angels holding the Instruments of the Passion, portrayals that mirror and complement the carved reliefs of angels  on the eastern front of northwest posa.

Calpan. Northwest posa chapel (© Beverley Spears)

text © 2018 Richard D. Perry.  images courtesy of Patrice Schmitz and Beverley Spears.