Retablos

Definition

The term retablos usually refers to painted screens that adorn church altars as well as to smaller replicas of the altarpieces like paintings, chests, and tiles. Originally made of large hardwood panels that were carved and painted with images of holy icons such as angels, saints, and biblical scenes, retablos in the Americas are constructed from a variety of materials into variable shapes and sizes. They are notable for combining local community interests and personal subjects with the religious themes first introduced by the Spaniards in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Key Information

As Christianity spread in the fifteenth century, the building of churches, convents, abbeys, and related architecture expanded throughout Europe. Manufacturing of furnishings for these structures flourished along with the crafting of adornments for the buildings like fonts, statuary, and retablosincluding depictions of the Stations of the Cross. With the colonization of the Americas...