Retablos

Scope note

Paintings of Roman Catholic religious subjects, commonly of miraculous events where individuals dedicating the paintings are assisted through the divine intervention of the holy personages depicted, produced in Mexico and the Spanish-speaking United States from Spanish colonial times. They are typically painted in bright colors, usually oils or tempura, on panels of local materials such as pine or tin-plated iron, and made as offerings of religious devotion or thanksgiving. Distinct from "retables" which may be sculpted and are attached at the back of a Christian altar's mensa.