Christ Of Cuzco, “señor De Los Temblores” – Cusco School – 18th Century

An 18th-century oil-on-canvas painting from the Cuzco School, depicting the Señor de los Temblores, or Taytacha Temblores, the “Lord of the Earthquakes.”

Christ, alone on the cross, is flanked by two large candles and symmetrically arranged bouquets of flowers. He wears the characteristic faldellín, a long white garment richly adorned with lace, whose various motifs the painter renders here with great finesse.

This iconography reproduces the famous sculpture of Christ housed in the Cathedral of Cuzco. After the terrible earthquake of 1650, it was carried in procession and became the city’s protector against earthquakes, hence its name, “Lord of the Earthquakes.”

Cuzco painters created true devotional portraits of him, depicting Christ as he appeared on his altar, clad in his lace faldellines and surrounded by candles and flowers.

The dark skin tones, the black background, the colorful flowers, and above all the remarkable detail of the lace garment are particularly characteristic of these examples of colonial Andean painting.

Cusco School, Peru – 18th century.
Oil on canvas, re-stretched.
Carved and gilded wooden frame.

Bibliography: Cuzco, Splendors of Peruvian Painting in the 17th and 18th Centuries, Museo Pedro de Osma / Grimaldi Forum Monaco.