Cuauhtinchan: a Tale of Two Altars

In an earlier post we looked at the main altarpiece at San Juan Bautista Cuauhtinchan.  Our interest here however is in a pair of thematically linked but contrasting retablos, both dedicated to the Franciscan saint San Diego de Alcalá. 

© Niccolo Brooker

The Wooden Altarpiece

We look first at the lateral wooden retablo of San Diego in the nave, thought to have been commissioned in the late 1500s, following the canonizing of the saint in 1588. This places it among the select company of Mexican retablos created in the 16th century. A dedicatory plaque in Latin may give the date.

Elegantly fashioned in the Renaissance/Mannerist style—much like the main retablo itself—the retablo is even more richly detailed.  
   Delicately carved reliefs of painted angels adorn the columns and frieze. The figure of the saint occupies the center niche, framed by fluted tritostyle columns and a broken classical pediment. Four lateral paintings illustrate key scenes from the life of San Diego.

The Painted Wall Retablo
In 1987, following earthquake damage and other deterioration of the altarpiece, it was dismounted for restoration, only to reveal an earlier, and previously unknown mural on the wall behind it, a painted retablo on the same subject—the life and miracles of San Diego de Alcalá.  
   The wall niche in the center, which once held a statue or image of the saint, is framed by six scenes of the miracles, several of them captioned in clear script.

 

In contrast to the sophisticated wooden altarpiece, the mural presents a more folkloric look—like other murals found at Cuauhtinchan, undoubtedly the work of indigenous artists. 
Its surprisingly broad range of still vivid color, due in part to its being hidden for 300 years, retain their freshness and directness of popular expression.

  
San Diego mural retablo 1                                                 mural retablo 2

Following much discussion on how to preserve the mural, it was decided to detach it from the wall and mount it on a fiberglass base for removal. It is now on display in the adjacent Museum of Religious Art at Cuauhtinchan along with other colonial art works including, as it happens, another retablo style mural with painted spiral columns.

text © 2018 Richard D. Perry. color images courtesy of Niccolo Brooker and ELTB

Source:  Carlos Flores Marini,  El retablo pintado de Cuauhtinchan  UNAM/INAH 2003