Copiar y recrear. La transformación social del exvoto pintado

Abstract

Copying and re-creating. Social transformation of the painted ex-voto (votive offerings). From long ago religious offers called ex-votos have been recognized because of its qualities and aesthetic attractions. Here, the focus is different. The autor seeks to understand the ex-voto as a historical, cultural, artistic and communicational device, in which we can see continuities but also salient transitions. The article explores the resemblances and differences of the ex-votos in two historical moments. The thesis is that these artifacts underwent changes in terms of devotional forms between the colonial period and the nineteenth century, as well as aesthetic, thematic, and meaningful changes. These displacements had to do with cultural and political transitions of society between those agitated centuries, a capital period in the definition of Mexican national life.