Europe

This larger than life-size figure was part of a group representing the four continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and America. These figures would have been part of ephemeral installations in Catholic churches, usually exhibited during Maunday Thursday. This sculpture follows Cesare Ripa's "Iconologia," which gave instructions on how to characterize allegorical representations of the continents, but differs somewhat in the headdress. The Ponce figure wears a laurel wreath, rather than the crown mentioned in "Iconologia."