Hung on a church wall or in a shrine, often near a specific Holy
image, the Mexican ex-voto commemorates the miraculous cure or rescue
of the donor. The ex-voto tradition, the offering of some object
indicative of a healing or blessing, probably dates back to early
Greece. The custom followed the Spanish to the New World, where these
pictorial stories of divine aid were placed in newly built Mexican
churches. During the eighteenth century, offerings of votive
paintings were wholly confined to the upper classes, but with Mexico's
independence from Spain, the use of the votive paintings spread to all
social and economic classes.
Throughout the nineteenth century it was customary for the person who
experienced the miracle to describe it to a village artisan who then
translated it into the painting on tin. A nineteenth century ex-voto
is an original yet often anonymous work of art. Each little
story-painting, although a product of the artist's imagination and
creativity, is primarily a public testimony of the donor's sincere
faith and gratitude.