03 September 2008

as the world turns

Museo Franciscano / Quito, Ecuador
While in Quito, we visited the Museo Franciscano situated on the Plaza San Francisco - where I found these two Quiteños sitting outside its entrance. The contrast between the two caught my eye. They both seemed very content there - doing nothing in particular - perhaps waiting for others inside. The Museo Franciscano houses one of the city's many collections of religious art and has an excellent collection of the Escuela Quiteña (Quito School of Art), a significant body of Catholic religious art produced by native sculptors and painters during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Escuela Quiteña is best known for its stark realism and the subtle blending of indigenous and traditional Christian themes. A close look at several of the paintings reveals details like Christ eating cuy (roast guinea pig - a traditional Andean dish) or the 12 apostles dining on humitas (tamale-like corn dumplings) in a painting of the Last Supper.

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