#Retablo « The Garding Family Nativity Collection

This is a good example of how nativity collectors need to keep their eyes open at all time. While visiting San Antonio, Texas in April, we went to the Mercado – Mexican market – and wandered through the shops. On a high shelf at one shop were two retablos that caught our eye. Retablos are not uncommon, but I often feel that they are too full and have a cluttered feel, but this one seemed well designed with all details focusing on the baby Jesus.

A retablo is a devotional painting, especially a small work using folk art representations of traditional Catholic church art. Traditionally, a retablo was artwork above an altar in a church (known as an alterpiece). Typically this includes painting, sculpture or a combination of the two, and an elaborate framework enclosing it. Retablos with hinged doors like this one are common, but other, larger retablos have numerous chambers with different scenes, like this one.