I can't go into much detail about this group of ladies, I can only generalize the story, as it's a sensitive subject.
I began a relationship with this somewhat secretive group, when I agreed to help them out, restoring a life sized nativity set. When the first few pieces arrived at my shop, in Albuquerque, I just had to hear the background of these pieces as their condition was so near complete ruin.
According to the mutual friend, these pieces had quite a history. I hate to show off my ignorance but I'm afraid it will show, as I tell the story.
During the Mexican revolution, the President of Mexico, fearing for his own life and that of his family, entrusted his daughter to a group of nuns. This group of nuns ran a school for girls, the daughter had been attending. The President paid for their safe passage across the border to El Paso, TX, where the nuns established another school for girls in hiding. Along with the President's daughter, came her prized possession which was the life sized nativity set.
As time passed, the school for girls became a women's home that continued to house the daughter until her death, at which time the nativity set simply remained in the hands of the nuns.
Now, the pieces being about the age of 100, there was a flood in El Paso and the nativity set was not discovered to be floating in water until about 2 weeks after the flood first began. The nuns were at a loss as to what to do about them. They sought help from local restorationists but the price was too high. This is a poor group.
A very good friend of mine, spent her teen years in school for girls and still frequently visited. She came to me with the problem and I agreed to help out for free.
These pieces and all the subsequent statues I restored for them, are Polychrome Statues. Created before the advent of modern day glues. The pieces are created from blocks of wood which are actually constructed of thick boards, glued together and then roughly carved into shape. Then covered with plaster layers upon which they would apply a layer of gold. Then they would apply colored paints, which were then carved back to expose the under layer of gold.
I have no idea who created the nativity pieces but the large Madonna statues were created by Joan Reyada in the late 1400's in Spain. When Spain was first conquering what we now know as Mexico, there was a mass wealth of gold and Spain took that gold back to Spain, where it was lavished on just about everything. It was so abundant, it even covered the bed posts of the 'higher ups' in government. Evidently, it was available to the artists of that time because gold in under the layers of paint on just about everything made by Spain at that time.
Now for the story of the nativity set and its restoration.
Mary's hand is missing
The blocks of wood, inside, were separating due to the old horse hoof glue having broken down from the water. There was no longer anything holding the pieces together. Not only was there separation but also slight warping, causing the outside surface design to crack open.
Large plates of design had already been lost and more was threatening to fall off.
Considering their fragile state, I decided to first inject resin into the interior to provide a new bond between the blocks of wood. I drilled down through the seams to give me access with a large needle. I didn't start to work on the outside design until I felt assured the pieces were stable again.
With whole chunks of design work gone, my first task was to reapply a layer of plaster mixture to reform the surfaces, in those areas.
Right
fingers missing. Had to rebuild.
