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Vintage Mexican Retablo, 1927, 9 x 7 inches
A retablo is a devotional painting, especially a small popular or folk art one using iconography derived from traditional Catholic church art. Votive paintings in Mexico go by several names in Spanish such as “ex voto,” “retablo” or “lámina,” which refer to their purpose, place often found, or material from which they are traditionally made respectively.
Most votive paintings in Mexico are small, depicting the petitioner, the saint or other religious figure and a description of the favor or miracle received. The purpose of the painting is to give testimony and thanks for the divine help. Most votive paintings depict is kind of near disaster, such as car accidents and robbery, which the believer survived or recuperation from sickness or injury.
Due their proliferation, especially in the 18th and 19th century, many older votive paintings have left the places they were deposited and found their way into public and private collections. The collecting of these was begun by Diego Rivera, whose work, along with those of a number of other painters past and present, has been influenced by them. Frida Kahlo's beautiful collection of ex votos is on public display in her family home, which she later shared with Rivera, her husband.