Four gleaming saints by Cabrera
The unexpected discovery of four canvases created by Miguel Cabrera, the greatest painter of New Spain, in the main altarpiece in the church at Tecoh exhibited the religious, social and economic importance of Yucatan within vice-regal Mexico.
Our Lady of the Assumption presides over the main altar of the church, which boasts one of the most precious and valuable works of sacred art, both for its production and its history, in south-east Mexico.
The reredos was carved in wood during the 18th century, and measures 7 meters wide by 12 meters high (23 ft x 39 ft), the restorer Fernando Garcés Fierros tells us.
The four Cabrera paintings, discovered in 1985 during restoration work carried out by the INAH Yucatan, represent John the Baptist, and the Archangels Gabriel, Michael and Raphael.
How they came to Tecoh, who acquired them or commissioned them from the celebrated artist, born in Oaxaca in 1695, is a mystery. What we do know is that the reredos was constructed thanks to the financing and oversight of Francisco Sanguino, parish priest, and that it reflects the economic bonanza that the population was enjoying in the mid-18th century.
According to Garcés Fierros, the central and lateral altarpieces form one of the most significant groups in the south-east of Mexico, owing to their Baroque estipital artistic style, mainly characterized by pilasters in the form of truncated pyramids, with the narrowest part at the bottom.
The main reredos has three levels and a pinnacle, and is divided vertically into three sections by the columns.
On the first, lowest, level there is a small crucifix, and sculptures representing the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
On the middle level, are two paintings portraying John the Baptist and the Archangel Raphael. The artist’s signature can be seen in this section.
Similarly, in the top section there are also two oil paintings: the Archangels Gabriel and Michael, and in the center a sculpture of one of the Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John), although it is not yet clear which one.
What makes the main reredos in the church at Tecoh special, according to Garcés Fierros, are the four paintings by Miguel Mateo Maldonado y Cabrera, better-known as Miguel Cabrera, the most highly-regarded artist in 18th-century New Spain. They have been dated to the late 1760s, which places them among the final works by this prolific artist, who died on 15th of May 1768.
For some art critics, Cabrera´s work is notable for the beauty of everything it depicts, without excess of movement or an overload of ornamental details, earning him the epithet of the Mexican Raphael.
The charm and artistic merit of the reredos at Tecoh, Garcés Fierros continues, are the result of various factors: its unique design, the decoration and ornamentation, the expertise evident in its carvings, the combination of colors, and the use of 24-karat gold leaf.
The contrast between the gold leaf and the red and blue of the background, as well as the vibrant shading, allows the observer to fully appreciate the details and volume of the reredos. The thought that has gone into this shows that the artist was considering contemporary illumination, consisting of candles and lamps, which enhance the reflections from the gold leaf.
Standing like sentries to either side of the high altar there are two lateral altarpieces by an unknown artist. They are smaller in size, but also of carved wood, Baroque in style. They contain statues of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, dating form the 18th century.
The church in Tecoh is named after Our Lady of the Assumption, whose feast day is the 15th of August, but its patron is the Virgin of Candelaria, celebrated on the 2nd of February. It was founded in 1609 as an Indian Chapel. The present building stands on a pre-Colombian base, and was finished around 1750.
The artistic beauty of the religious artworks inside the church contrast with a rather plain and austere facade, featuring a Baroque decor flanked by twin towers with three sections.
Tecoh is 30 km (19 miles) from Merida, and in pre-Hispanic times it formed part of the chiefdom of Ah Kin Chel. The name means “place of the puma” from te’, or te’elá, place, and koh, puma. An alternative etymology given by the Dictionary of Yucatecan Spanish is “place of the expensive, or valuable, things”, from te’, and ko’oh, expensive.
The altarpieces, main and lateral, in the church of the Assumption can be viewed when the church is open for religious services.