El Santo Entierro (Christ in the Sepulcher)
June 1987
29" x 42" x 11.25"
Devotional Objects, Sculpture, carved wood with natural pigments
Region: New Mexico
Signed and dated on sepulchre, figure
Santo Entierro literally means Holy Burial in Spanish. The term is also used to name one of the highlights during Holy Week, where the statue of the dead Christ is carried to his burial tomb. The Santo Entierro consists of an ornately designed calandra, a local term referring to the bier that will carry the statue of the dead Christ. In most cases, the calandra is adorned with flowers for mourning. As a Lenten activity, the Santo Entierro is held every Good Friday.

About the Artist
(1942)
Marie Romero Cash is a well-known award -winning folk artist and writer in Santa Fe, where she has lived most of her life. Her whimsical one-of-a-kind creations are in demand by collectors of all ages.

Primarily recognized for creating traditional New Mexican art for fifty years, in 2024 Cash presented for the first time to the public a series of acrylic paintings begun over a decade ago when a sibling was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

She is one of only five United States artists invited to participate in the 2019 International Folk Art Market and has participated in the annual Spanish Market in Santa Fe for over forty- five years.

The daughter of prominent traditional tinwork artists, the late Senaida and Emilio Romero, Marie has created large altar screens for a number of churches in the United States and in Mexico, including Stations of the Cross for the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, which have been viewed by tens of thousands of visitors.

As a writer, her early works focused on research-based books about the culture and churches of Northern New Mexico, along with a memoir about growing up in Santa Fe in the 1950s.

Later she authored a mystery series based around Santa Fe; a romantic novel about the Pueblo Revolt; a children’s book; and most recently, a second memoir, “Staying Afloat.”

Her works are in the following collections: the Museum of International Folk Art; the Gene Autry Museum of the American West; the Albuquerque Museum; the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art; the Smithsonian Institute; the Vatican; the Archdiocese of Santa Fe; the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; and many private collections.