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Description
A narrative ex-voto painted in oil on tin in 1953 for Rafaelita Morales R. of Tonalá, Jalisco, thanking the Ánima Sola for her recovery from vomiting, dizziness, exhaustion and pain.
The panel is split in two. At left, the Ánima Sola stands crowned and chained in the flames of purgatory, her name painted beneath her in a black band. At right, the sick woman lies in a canopied bed strewn with petals against a flowered ground, with a kneeling figure and a lit taper beside her. It measures 15 x 8 inches.
It comes from the same source as the rest of my retablos: one unknown painter who never signed his work and has since died. Families commissioned his pieces and took them to their village churches.
An elderly custodian at one of those churches has been collecting this painter\'s work for decades. A picker who travels the small village churches brought it to my dealer, and my dealer brought it to me.
None of those links is documented on paper, so I give it to you as the path it traveled, not as a chain of title.
The inscription
As painted:
\"LA ANIMA Sola. Tenia Vomito, mareos, Cansancio i Dolor. Roge a la anima Del purgaTorio Por mi salud. Sane Poco Despues. en gratitud pongo este Testimonio: Rafaelita Morales R. 1953 Tonala Talisco\"
In English:
\"The Lonely Soul. I had vomiting, dizziness, exhaustion and pain. I begged the soul in purgatory for my health. I recovered shortly after. In gratitude I place this testimony. Rafaelita Morales R. 1953, Tonalá, Jalisco.\"
The spelling is the painter\'s own: Talisco for Jalisco, Roge for rogué, i for y, and no accents. Irregularities like these are part of what makes the piece genuine.
Condition
Good for its age. The paint is stable throughout and the full inscription is legible.
There is loss at the upper left corner where the tin has thinned and opened, a nail hole at top center of the right panel, scattered fine scratches, and a few small flecks of loss in the brick wall and the bedspread. The corners are slightly bent.
The verso is bare tin with heavy pitting and rust across the whole sheet.
Appraisal
Grade: A
A complete narrative ex-voto: the symptoms listed one by one, the prayer and the recovery recorded, the petitioner named, the year and town given. The Ánima Sola is an uncommon devotion in this group and a strong one with collectors, and the two-panel composition, purgatory on one side and the sickroom on the other, is the most graphic thing this painter does. The corner loss is what keeps it from the top of the band. Graded against realized sales of this painter\'s work.
Gallery replacement value: $650, what it would cost to replace this piece through a gallery, for insurance and estate purposes.
A note on the photographs
One photograph shows the retablo staged for scale. Only the retablo is included.
Shipping and import fees
The price includes DHL Express shipping anywhere in the world, with tracking, packed by Diseños de Cartón in Guadalajara.
Import duty and tax are the buyer\'s responsibility. Tariff code 9701.91, hand-painted original art. Most markets let it in duty-free, and it qualifies for a reduced tax rate wherever one exists.
When it arrives, open the box along the seams; never cut down into it.
If your delivery country differs from your account country, message me before purchasing.
Destination | Import duty | Import tax | Estimated total
United States | 0% | none collected at import | $0
Canada | 0% | 5% GST, or 13–15% HST by province | $18 – $53
United Kingdom | 0% | 5% reduced-rate import VAT on works of art | about $18
European Union | 0% | 5.5% – 13.5% reduced rate, set by your country | $19 – $48
Australia | none on orders under AUD 1,000 | 10% GST, charged at checkout | about $35, paid at checkout
Where tax is collected at delivery, DHL adds a small advancement fee, typically $12 to $20.
Questions
You will always reach a real person, never AI.
God bless,
Ricardo Ivan Cardenas EMBA
St. Joseph\'s University New York Business School Graduate
Item specifics
Type: Painting
Subject: La Ánima Sola, recovery from illness
Original/Reproduction: Original
Date of Creation: 1953
Region of Origin: Tonalá, Jalisco, Mexico
Country/Region of Manufacture: Mexico
Material: Tin, Oil
Signed: No
Artist: Unsigned by the painter, petitioner named Rafaelita Morales R.
Framing: Unframed
Style: Folk Art, Mexican, Religious
Features: One of a Kind, Dated 1953, Inscribed, Hand Painted
Color: Blue, Red, Cream, Green
Condition: Used
Tariff code: 9701.91
