Object Details
Artist
Francisco "Pacheco" Claudio, died late 1940s
Luce Center Label
The rigid poses and identical dress of these carved figures evoke a choir. According to legend, St. Ursula was the daughter of a British Christian king. Betrothed against her will to a pagan prince, she made a pilgrimage to Rome to delay the wedding. For three years she sailed on a ship with a thousand virgins; ten noble virgins, each of whom traveled in her own ship with a thousand companion virgins, accompanied them. On their journey home to Britain, they were martyred in Cologne by the Huns after Ursula refused to marry their chief. A church was later built there to honor the maidens. Depictions of Las Once Mil Vírgenes are prevalent in Puerto Rican imagery. (Yvonne Lange, “Santos: The Household Wooden Saints of Puerto Rico,” PhD diss., 1975)
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Teodoro Vidal Collection
Date
first half of the 20th century
Object number
1996.91.35A-D
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Type
Sculpture
Medium
carved and painted wood
Dimensions
overall: 6 3/8 x 8 1/2 x 9 in. (16.2 x 21.6 x 22.8 cm.) A (first row): 6 1/8 x 8 1/2 x 2 in. (15.6 x 21.6 x 5.2 cm.) B (second row): 6 1/8 x 8 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (15.6 x 21.6 x 4.5 cm.) C (third row): 6 x 8 3/8 x 1 3/4 in. (15.3 x 21.3 x 4.5 cm.) D (fourth row): 6 3/8 x 8 3/8 x 2 1/8 in. (16.2 x 21.3 x 5.4 cm.)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
On View
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 21B
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Figure group\female
Religion\New Testament\Eleven Thousand Virgins
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_1996.91.35A-D