Turner Auctions + Appraisals is pleased to present Retablos: The Art of Devotion on Saturday, February 24, 2024. Offering over 230 lots from a private collection in Northern California, the sale features distinctive works from Mexico and South America, including Peru and Bolivia. Almost all works are from the 19th and/or 20th centuries; most are painted in oil on tin or copper; some are framed, most are not. There is also an extensive array of relicario medallions, most from South America, including Bolivia. Some other religious or devotional items round out the sale, including crucifixes, santos, wood carvings, painted altars, miniature monstrances, and more.
Retablos are a widespread folk art form from the colonial Spanish or Mexican culture that gained popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries. Small and colorful, these devotional paintings illustrate holy images or miraculous events from traditional art of the Catholic church, depicting Jesus, the Virgin Mary, or one of the church’s many saints. Usually created by untrained artists and showcased privately in homes to enable personal devotion or to give thanks, retablos often became valued family heirlooms.
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