Nino Jesus: on view at Smithsonian American Art Museum

Devotional figures of the infant Jesus became popular in Puerto Rico during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Santeros carved the faces and hands of the statues realistically and clothed the figures with luxurious fabrics. An unknown craftsman carved this small figure in the act of benediction, or blessing, with an orb in his left hand to symbolize God's dominion over the Earth. The three flame-like shapes around the child's head represent the three parts of the soul: memory, understanding, and will. (Lange, Santos: The Household Wooden Saints of Puerto Rico, PhD diss., 1975)

Nino Jesus

About the sculpture

Particulars

In the same room · Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 21B, Smithsonian American Art Museum

On the same theme · Cross

Yes, receiving visitors

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

San Jose, late 19th-early 20th century

Nuestra Senora del Carmen, ca. late 19th-early 20th century

San Rafael, late 19th-early 20th century

Sagrado Corazon, ca. mid-19th-early 20th century

San Miguel en Lucha con el Demonio, second half of 19th century-1910

Los Reyes Magos, early 20th century

Las Once Mil Virgenes, first half of the 20th century

Los Reyes Magos, ca. 1875-1900

Honfleur: Calvary, ca. 1830

The Crucifixion, ca. 1675

Washington, D.C. Sitting beneath the emblem of the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary. Two members of the St. Martin's Spiritual Church listen and pray., August 1942, printed later

Peruvian Peddler, 1960

Salvator Mundi, 1480–85

The Vocation of Saint Aloysius (Luigi) Gonzaga, ca. 1650

La Salle Erecting a Cross and Taking Possession of the Land. March 25, 1682, 1847/1848