THE INTEREST WHICH has developed in the study of early New Mexican religious art as represented by santos is shown by their scarcity within late years.

Some twenty years ago when I first became interested in santos they were obtainable in almost any village or hamlet in exchange for a cheap print or plaster image. Today, good bultos are almost unobtainable, excepting from collectors or antique merchants and then only at high prices. Retablos and tins are still fairly numerous. Among the best private collections are the Fred Harvey collection, the collection of the late Arthur Seligman, now owned by John Gaw Meem of Santa Fe, and the collection formerly seen in the old Don Fernando hotel at Taos.

One of the difficulties encountered by the collector as well as the student is to identify the subject of any particular santo he may have acquired. Certain representations such as San Antonio, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and San Isidro, are so well known and so distinctive that identity is established at a glance. Other picturizations are not so easily identified, and it is necessary to examine the habit, background, articles held in hand, and identifying marks, to ascertain which saint is represented.

One of the most surprising features revealed by study of New Mexico santos is the faithfulness with which the Santero held to identification of his representations. This in spite of almost complete isolation of the New Mexican. New Mexico was never over supplied with religious teachers. With Mexican independence all Spanish priests were ordered to leave the country, and the Bishop of Durango found it impossible properly to provide priests for the province. This accounts for the condition in which Bishop Lamy found the Church in New Mexico.

It is my opinion that the isolation of the New Mexican, the inaccessibility of remote villages and hamlets from places of worship and from contact with religious instruction, probably led to the intense veneration in which the saints were held and the intense popularity of santos, which thus provided a means of self-expression of their religious sentiments in their own homes.

The New Mexican santero hewed carefully to the traditions of the past, and the student of Old World religious art readily recognizes the subject of the New Mexican santo irrespective of the perfections or imperfections in workmanship. For example, San Ramon Nonato is always pictured bearing a palm branch in one hand which has three crowns, typifying his triple martyrdom: at birth, through a Caesarian operation, during life as a captive, and at death, by martyrdom. San Lorenzo was martyred by being roasted on a gridiron. We always see him pictured with a gridiron, either lying on it or holding it. Santa Rita de Casia is shown with a skull and always like San Francisco de Assisi with the sign of the stigmata. Santa Veronica is shown with the napkin with which she wiped the face of the bleeding Saviour and upon which his features were transferred.

San Cristobal was a ferryman who assisted travelers across streams, bearing them on his back. A fearless man of prodigious strength, one day he was all but borne down with the weight of a mere child he was carrying. This incident furnishes the theme for his picturization. The Child was the Christ.

San Pedro is shown with the pontifical robes and the triple crown of the Roman pontiffs; and so forth. The santo may be of good or of bad workmanship but invariably the identification is correct.

The subjects of New Mexican santos are of four classes. First come the picturizations of the Deity. Most common are the Christ crucified, the Holy Trinity and the Christ Child. Crucifixes come under this classification. I have seen in New Mexico several crucifixes on which the feet are separately nailed to the cross. This is not a New Mexican variation. It is of European origin and was at one time the subject of a religious edict which declared this picturization unorthodox and a heresy, and forbidding the future making crucifixes in this manner.

A common term in New Mexico is Penitente crucifix. The term locally refers to crucifixes used by Penitentes in their Moradas. The term is so general and distinctive that I have adopted it myself. Penitente crucifixes differ from

those found in homes and chapels in that they are invariably more crudely made and more gruesome, purposely made so to fit in with the weird atmosphere of their morada and to impress the hermanos and neophytes presenting themselves for admission.

The second classification includes picturizations of the Virgin. Among the most typical is Our Lady of Guadalupe. Generally, this picturization shows the Virgin wearing a blue gown sparkling with stars, a crown on her head, and surrounded by a halo of light. She is standing on a quarter moon supported by a cherub. In bultos the halo effect is affected by spear like points. In paintings, the apparitions of the Virgin to the Indian, Juan Diego, are shown in the corners of the picture.

Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, Our Lady of Sorrows, known in European art as the Mater Dolorosa; is readily recognized. This representation shows the Mother of God in her anguish over the death of her only Son. A sword is shown piercing her heart. This picturization is identical with that of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. Both are emblematic of patience and fortitude.

Of all representations of the Virgin found in New Mexican art, my favorite is Our Lady Queen of Heaven. She is represented wearing a crown and with scepter, surrounded by a halo in which five large stars are prominent. The most individual aspect is the robe; wide at the bottom, it tapers symmetrically toward the head. A very small face and two tiny hands are all the body features shown. The bultos and retablos of this representation are always very prettily decorated.

Other favorite Virgins are, Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Nuestra Señora del Pilar, Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion, Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles, and Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro.

Next come the picturizations of angels and archangels. The first of these is El Angel de la Guardia, or The Guardian Angel. Under Catholic belief, every child when born is assigned one of the angels of heaven as his or her guide throughout its life. It is the guardian angel who watches over the child leading it away from danger and temptation.

The guardian angel is a frequent subject in retablo and paintings on tin, seldom in bulto. The veneration shown for the guardian angel is shown by the familiar prayer which like every other New Mexican I learned at my mother's knee, which begins as follows:

Angel de mi guardia, dulce compania
Velame de noche y guardame de dia ...

and which freely translated reads:

Oh guardian angel, protect my way
Watch me by night, guide me by day.

Then come the Archangels, San Miguel, San Gabriel, and San Rafael. This trio constitutes the heavenly princes of the church, the leaders of the militant hosts of God, who led the assault upon the forces of evil and drove Lucifer' and his satanic hordes out of the Kingdom of God and into the darkness of hell.

San Miguel is the powerful leader of the armed hosts of heaven. As such, he is appealed to in battle. He is shown with sword in right hand, uplifted, and with a set of scales. The one represents his authority as leader of the hosts of God, the other his authority to weigh the good and bad in men and judge their right to enter paradise.

San Rafael is appealed to in case of sickness and as the special protector of children. Rafael means "healer through God." In paintings he is generally shown leading the young Tobias. In bulto he is shown with a string of fish.

San Gabriel was chosen as the patron of the first settlement established in New Mexico by the conqueror Oñate. This was in 1599. The Angel Gabriel it was who appeared to Mary to announce the coming birth of Christ. Again, he appeared to Jesus in the garden, bringing him a chalice of wine to quench his thirst. Both of these incidents are pictured in New Mexican art. In the former he is shown with a lily in his hand, in the latter with a chalice. All three of the archangels always wear a crown as princes of the church.

Next in order come the representations of the saints of God. These are legion. Some of the picturizations have been described. In New Mexico curiously, several uncanonized saints are revered. One of these is Lazarus, the poor man of the Bible who ate the crumbs at the rich man's table while the clogs licked his wounds. He is no doubt confused with St. Roch, as is pointed out by Odd Halseth, of Phoenix, Arizona. In European art St. Roch is pictured as is San Lazaro in New Mexico. Another uncanonized saint represented is Santa Liberata who is pictured nailed to a cross a still further one is "The Good Thief."