Nuestra Senora de Talpa
July, 1986
23" x 15" x 1"
Retablos, Wood and watercolor
Region: Santa Fe, New Mexico
23" x 15" x 1"
Retablos, Wood and watercolor
Region: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Signed, dated and titled verso
In the state of Jalisco in Mexico is a little village known as Talpa de Allende. Today it is a center of Marian devotion, but in the 17th Century it was known to few besides the priests who came occasionally to administer the sacraments.
The poverty of the villagers was reflected in their church, which was decorated in the crude fashion of the Mexican Indians in the area. Its chief ornaments were statues carved from cornstalks. With the passing of time, the cornstalks had decayed, and the statues had become ugly images of Our Lady and the Saints. In 1644, the priest gave orders that the statues should be destroyed.
Among the statues was one representing Our Lady of the Rosary, with her child in her arms and the half-moon at her feet. As one of the village women reached to destroy this image, she was suddenly surrounded with a very bright light. The crumbling statue was miraculously changed – its soft substance become solid and strong, its ugly outlines became extremely beautiful. This miracle took place on September 19, 1644. Since that time, this image has been venerated in the Basilica of Talpa de Allende, and devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary of Talpa has spread among the Mexican people.
The poverty of the villagers was reflected in their church, which was decorated in the crude fashion of the Mexican Indians in the area. Its chief ornaments were statues carved from cornstalks. With the passing of time, the cornstalks had decayed, and the statues had become ugly images of Our Lady and the Saints. In 1644, the priest gave orders that the statues should be destroyed.
Among the statues was one representing Our Lady of the Rosary, with her child in her arms and the half-moon at her feet. As one of the village women reached to destroy this image, she was suddenly surrounded with a very bright light. The crumbling statue was miraculously changed – its soft substance become solid and strong, its ugly outlines became extremely beautiful. This miracle took place on September 19, 1644. Since that time, this image has been venerated in the Basilica of Talpa de Allende, and devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary of Talpa has spread among the Mexican people.
About the Artist
(1942)
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.
