Mestre Piranga - study and conservation of Brazilian religious sculptures from the eighteenth century

Abstract

Known today only by the name of the region where he lived, Mestre Pirang-a, an eighteenth-century santeiro (saint-maker), is considered a great artist by afficionados of Brazilian sacred art. Part of the present work consisted in a survey and cataloguing of the surviving religious imagery in the region of the Piranga river valley. A considerable number of these images could be attributed to the master. Three sculptures were analyzed with regard to form, style, iconography and technique of execution (support and polychromy), using scientific methods. Their state of preservation was investigated and a proposal for conservation was drawn up.