Death Cart
Los Hermanos Penitentes Society
Decorative Arts and Design
This sculpture is a smaller version of the death carts that were pulled by penitent brothers during Holy Week processions of the Los Hermanos Penitentes Society. Public processions reenacted the sorrow and suffering of Christ’s final days, with some penitent brothers practicing self-flagellation with whips and dragging large, heavy crosses and death carts. Here the female Angel of Death, Doña Sebastiana, serves as a reminder of human mortality and the importance of preparing for a good death through prayer and virtuous deeds.
Esta escultura es una versión más pequeña de las carretas de la muerte llevadas por los hermanos penitentes durante las procesiones de Semana Santa de la Sociedad de los Hermanos Penitentes. Procesiones públicas revivían la tristeza y el sufrimiento de los últimos días de Cristo, con algunos de los penitentes practicando autoflagelación con látigos, y arrastrando enormes y pesadas cruces, y carretas de la muerte. Aquí el ángel femenino de la Muerte, Doña Sebastiana, sirve como recordatorio de la mortalidad humana y de la importancia de prepararse para una buena muerte a través de plegarias y actos virtuosos.
Esta escultura es una versión más pequeña de las carretas de la muerte llevadas por los hermanos penitentes durante las procesiones de Semana Santa de la Sociedad de los Hermanos Penitentes. Procesiones públicas revivían la tristeza y el sufrimiento de los últimos días de Cristo, con algunos de los penitentes practicando autoflagelación con látigos, y arrastrando enormes y pesadas cruces, y carretas de la muerte. Aquí el ángel femenino de la Muerte, Doña Sebastiana, sirve como recordatorio de la mortalidad humana y de la importancia de prepararse para una buena muerte a través de plegarias y actos virtuosos.
MEDIUM
Wood, hide, hair, pigment
DATES
1890–1910
DIMENSIONS
25 1/4 x 14 x 26 1/2 in. (64.1 x 35.6 x 67.3 cm) (show scale)
INSCRIPTIONS
"M922" is written in ink near the right hip socket and at the base of the cart handle. This number may be a Millicent Rogers Musuem number [N. Rosoff to confirm, 6/22/12].
COLLECTIONS
Decorative Arts and Design
ACCESSION NUMBER
1997.70
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alastair B. Martin, the Guennol Collection
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Carved wood skeleton of the female angel of death Dona Sebastiana with human hair and covered with gesso. The figure holds a bow and arrow in her hands and sits in a two wheeled cart made of cottonwood sticks lashed together with hide. A wooden axe sits inside the cart.
Condition: good.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Los Hermanos Penitentes Society. Death Cart, 1890–1910. Wood, hide, hair, pigment, 25 1/4 x 14 x 26 1/2 in. (64.1 x 35.6 x 67.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alastair B. Martin, the Guennol Collection, 1997.70. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1997.70_transp5516.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 1997.70_transp5516.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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