Latin America, Mexico, ca. 1856 to 1913. An exciting ex-voto depicting a stagecoach robbery, hand-painted on heavy gauge tin as is customary for this folk art genre and set in an attractive wooden frame. While the inscription in red below the image is difficult to read, one can still discern that the ex voto is dedicated to "La Virgen del Pilar" - Our Lady of the Pillar who is regarded as the first Marian apparition among Catholics having appeared to Apostle James the Greater in 40 CE when he was preaching in Spain; this occurred supernaturally when Mary was living in Jerusalem, hence this appearance was unique as Mary was still living on Earth. In this painting, we see a woman sitting in the stagecoach, a man on horseback, and an armed man approaching two men engaged in conversation while the Virgin of the Pillar overlooks the scene at the upper right. Size: 9.5" L x 13.75" W (24.1 cm x 34.9 cm) Size of frame: 14.625" L x 18.75" W (37.1 cm x 47.6 cm)

Interestingly, while ex-votos are a Mexican tradition, this ex voto was probably created by a Mexican immigrant who had crossed the border into the United States as stagecoach robberies were most common during the post-Civil War era in the American West. According to Tijen Tunali's "Images of Popular Devotion: The Ex-voto Paintings of Mexican Immigrants" the themes of ex voto paintings reflect various sociocultural changes, "These paintings provide historical, ethnographical, and literary evidence of socio-economic circumstances of the Mexican–United States immigration from the perspective of the immigrants." (February 21, 2012 Nomos Journal)

While most of us are familiar with stagecoach robberies from watching old Hollywood Westerns, stagecoach robberies were indeed quite prevalent in the American West during the second half of the 19th century. According to scholar R. Michael Wilson's "Stagecoach Robberies in California: A Complete Record, 1856-1913" (2014) the first reported robbery of a stagecoach occurred in 1856, and the last one occurred in 1913. During that period, there were a notable 457 stagecoach robberies.

Provenance: ex-private Bishop Family Trust collection, the Trust of the late Bill Bishop, a noted antiquarian with shops in Scottsdale, Arizona and Allenspark, Colorado, USA, acquired before 2010

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#173026

Expected scuffs and abrasions to ex voto with some losses to painting and text as shown. Although set in a frame, one can see some losses to corners and bending at the peripheries of the ex voto. There are also areas of normal oxidation. Still the image is legible, and while the text is difficult to discern, one can still read that the author dedicated it to Our Lady of the Pillar. Frame shows scuffs and nicks but is otherwise quite nice and fitted with a suspension wire. Normal tears to gallery paper on verso as shown.