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| Our Lady of Carmel - La Orotava |
Villa de La Orotava Village, in Canary Islands, has a very rich artistic heritage, spans from the 16th century to the present day, however it is hidden inside of ancient palaces, churches and houses distributed by the locality.
One of this artistic pieces is the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, considerate as one of the most beautiful sculptures in the archipielago.
Reaching the neighborhood of EL Farrobo, popularly called La Villa de Arriba, there is the beautiful baroque church of San Juan Bautista that, despite it looks single, is home to many valuable artistic pieces, both insular's art and pieces that are coming of Europe or America.
Among them we can discover, in the rigth chapel of the transept, the splendid sculpture of Our Lady of Carmel, made by the prestigious canary sculptor Fernando Estévez de Salas (1788-1854). It is an sculpture of candelero*, made with polychromed wood and designed to wear natural fabrics. It is 168 cm.
HISTORY
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| Lady of Carmel in 16th July 2011 |
In La Orotava there was the Franciscan monastery of San Lorenzo and his sumptuous church are called by Viera y Clavijo as the Escorial de Canarias. However, the town suffered the misfortune of losing the monastery in a fire in 1801. In this place there was the old sculpture of the Virgin, of Sevillian origin dated near 1689.
So that, the current sculpture maybe was made to replace the old piece owing to the fire or simply to adapt to the new neoclassical taste. Anyway, the important matter is that the rebuild church has a new sculpture of this Marian advocation. The recent studies notice the gouge of Fernando Estévez, the sculptor who represented the Neoclassicism in Canary Islands.
On the year of 1835, the sculpture was moved to the neighboring parish of San Juan Bautista with other artistic pieces, due to the Mendizábal's confiscation.
Since then, the devotion of the Lady of Carmel have taked root in La Orotava. Proof of this evident is that the Virgin received the canonical crown in the town hall's square in July 1988 or that her brotherhood counts with more of 3.400 members, spread around the world. During July, La Villa celebrated outstanding worship in honor to the Lady of Carmel, like the procession, realised each 16th July.
*Candelero: it's an spanish term that means the sculpture's technique that consist in make only the bust and hands, and the support (from the waist to the base) is made with any sticks to lighten the weight.
Some information:
BOOKS:
* LORENZO LIMA, Juan Alejandro: El Legado del Farrobo. Bienes patrimoniales de la Parroquia de San Juan Bautista, La Orotava. La Orotava, 2008.
Some information:
BOOKS:
* LORENZO LIMA, Juan Alejandro: El Legado del Farrobo. Bienes patrimoniales de la Parroquia de San Juan Bautista, La Orotava. La Orotava, 2008.
