Spanish Colonial Antiques Latin American Art

In the Catholic Americas, the word retablo refers to a variety of devotional items. An altar retablo is the large screen behind an altar that typically contains a principal image such as a crucified Christ together with a number of saints’ images. In Mexico, a tin retablo, also called a retablo santo, is the painted image of a saint on a sheet of tin-coated metal, or earlier, copper or silver. In South America, a retablo can be a small portable altar, typically a box or niche, containing religious or secular scenes with many three-dimensional figures.