Saint Teresa of Ávila

This statue represents Saint Teresa of Ávila (1550–1582), a Spanish nun who co-founded the Order of the Discalced Carmelites. Her writings on spiritual mysticism were widely discussed during her lifetime and became popular throughout Latin America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Here she appears standing with a book in hand to symbolize her scholarship. Her upward gaze suggests deep spiritual meditation. This work features the "estofado" decorative technique, in which top layers of paint are scratched away from a sculpture to reveal gold or silver leaf underneath.