Archangel Gabriel

This figure is a good example of the type of piece which, during the second half of the eighteenth century, a number of Quito workshops produced for export to markets as far afield as Santiago de Chile and Bogota. The image depicts the Archangel Gabriel and –in the opinion of the art historian Francisco Stastny- it appears to have been taken from a sixteenth century Flemish engraving, as evidenced by the exotic attire with its angular folds. At some point it must have lost its wings and the other silver accessories characteristic of Quito sculpture. The piece is an example of work that was virtually mass-produced, with any personal touches subordinated to the repetition of prototypes of an idealized and conventional beauty, emphasized by the preciosity of the finishing. In fact, much of the renown of the Quito carved sacred imagery of the eighteenth century rests on the porcelain-like appearance of the flesh tones and its polychrome brightness.