New World, Spanish Colonial period, ca. 19th century CE. A small santo depicting a standing Santa Rita, dressed in a nun's habit, holding a skull as a memento mori atop a Gospel book in one hand and a silver staff with a floral design on the other. She has a stigmata on her forehead, a silver halo behind, and around her neck, a silver chain with hollow cast heart-shaped pendant that features a small golden heart in the center. Size: 6.2" W x 15.6" H (15.7 cm x 39.6 cm)

Santa Rita of Cascia (1381 to 1457) was an Italian widow and Augustinian nun, canonized in 1900, and known as the "Patroness of Improbable Causes". She is also the patroness of women who have suffered domestic violence. Santos played an important role in bringing the Catholic Church to the New World with the Spanish colonists. These mannequin-style religious figures were hand-sculpted and often furnished with ornate religious clothing, usually funded by religious devotees, and were used as icons to explain the major figures - Mary, Christ, and the saints - in the religion to new, indigenous converts. Likewise, they served as a connection to the Old World for colonists far from home.

Provenance: From the Lilly and Francis Robiscek Collection of Religious Art, Charlotte, NC

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#119800

Surface wear commensurate with age with paint losses as shown; unclear if the floral staff, halo, and necklace are contemporary but they appear to be more recent.