The Curator’s Corner:

The Lenten altar frontal piece: In the Old Mission, find the large painting mounted on the wall across from the baptismal font. The large structure is called a "Monumentum for Holy Thursday." You can see that it is made up of several segments. Every year during Lent, these pieces were assembled in front of the wooden Baroque Reredos. The Reredos, or decorative altar, came from San Blas, Mexico, in 1796. If you look back at the Reredos, you can see that the frontal piece would cover everything but the tabernacle.

The lower section of the "frontispiece" tells the story of the Old Testament Covenant, and at the top you see Jesus at the Last Supper (the New Testament Covenant). The date of the work is circa 1833. The "Medium" of the Monumentum is oil on canvas. There are four canvas sections, two sections, an upper and lower, glued on each of two very tall panels of approximately 2.5-inch-thick wood. Each section measures about 5’5” wide and 10’ high. From 1925 photos of the monumentum in its original place in Mission Dolores, it seems to be a huge canvas hung from a rod at the ceiling. It was used for the last two weeks of Lent before Easter (also known as Passiontide). In some churches, the statues are covered. The last two weeks of Lent are given over to a focus on the passion of Christ. This "Frontispiece" would cover the beautiful, ornate Baroque altar. At the top, you see Jesus at the Last Supper, as well as figures from the Old Testament, including, but not limited to, Gideon, Joshua, Moses, Isaiah, and Melchizedek at the bottom. And then the three theological virtues around the tabernacle: Faith, Hope, and Charity (note the blindfold signifying that "Love is blind"). 

Notice how the artist included features from the two wooden side altars brought from Mexico to the Mission in 1810 into the "Frontispiece."  Though the columns may look like marble, both structures are carved entirely of wood. And the urns at the tops represent oil lamps with flames.

The work is attributed to Padre Jose Maria de Jesus Gonzales Rubio, OFM, who was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, on June 6, 1804. He died at Mission Santa Barbara on November 2, 1875

Next week, "The Curator's Corner" will discuss some of the artwork in the Basilica in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows (Nuestra Señora de los Dolores), the Feast we celebrate on September 15th.

 To be continued…..