XXX. SS-Files: Ang Pagkarapâ, Part Two – “The Young Escultor and the Old Encarnador”

After I put out the advert for it, there were a fair number of polite inquiries about the Vecin Workshop's Tercera Caida for sale, but given its not inconsiderable scale (and consequent cost no doubt), it just wasn't going to be snapped up in a jiffy.  Fortunately, a local entrepreneur had decided that he wanted to participate in the famed Makati Poblacion Holy Week processions with a Fall of Christ.   Which, surprisingly, was not yet in the processional line-up of what is probably the most beautiful, most traditional, and most devotional of the Holy Week processions in Metro Manila.

His plan was to join the processions for Holy Week 2007 with just the fallen Christ figure, and with the supporting characters (including perhaps our discarded trumpeter / standard-bearer and drummer) to follow in the future.

So that's one Fall of Christ down.  Time to work on ours now.

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By mid-September, or shortly before I put out the advert, the new fallen Christ was ready for inspection.  Being modeled on the Salzillo, it was radically different from either of the two Christs from a few months earlier.

Over the next few months, the supporting characters started to take shape too.  The Roman Captain, based on antique examples from other Tercera Caida tableaux and from a figure in Kiko Vecin's own collection, came out with left hand on waist and right index finger pointing, not too different from its traditional conception from earlier in the year. 

The two Jewish temple guards were coming along nicely too.

And the Simon of Cyrene was looking quite exceptional, almost like, shouldn't we use this for the image of a saint instead?

His head was finely and most compassionately carved.

But I guess nothing could still beat the head of the Christ, carved by Kiko Vecin's young apprentice sculptor over many weeks and months of evening discussions and quiet reflection in the Vecin Workshop premises. 

After a few more months of air drying, the individual figures could be configured more closely to their target positions. 

And the whole ensemble was thus ready for preliminary staging just three days after Christmas 2006.

After a week-long holiday break, the Vecin Workshop staff got back to work.  The obvious next step was to paint the figures. And Kiko's long-time encarnador (painter of religious images) had presumably the most difficult challenge with the head of Christ.

We need to remember that the encarnador's objective was not really to slavishly copy the Salzillo Cristo, but simply (what an understatement) to be inspired by it enough to somehow bring out a truly devotional image from what his young escultor colleague had already carved.  Separately, we had also expressed a preference for a not-too-bloodied or -bruised head of Christ, unlike the Cristos of most Tercera Caida tableaux in the Philippines.

We thus eagerly awaited to see how the encarnador would respond to all these explicit artistic challenges, and some other implicit ones, not all of which were even perfectly consistent with each other.

By the end of January 2007, here's what we had: 

I don't know about you, but I confess that I have not yet seen any other Christ image face-to-face that met the aforementioned artistic objectives as well as this one had.  Not even close.  And if those shots above didn't get you, what about this one:

The more pious and fragile amongst us might break down and cry in the presence of such an image.  Or start putting ashes on one's head and wearing a hair shirt.

Now here's the inside story.  This accomplishment is especially significant because the old encarnador, now in his mid-seventies, was ill, had a variety of lingering illnesses, and had in fact just gotten out of the hospital when he painted this Christ.  Upon seeing this image, another of the Vecin Workshop's regular clients remarked, Nakuha pa niyang gumawa nang ganyan?!? (You mean, he still managed to create something that exceptional [despite his severely deteriorated health]?!?).  We all smiled and wondered what else the old artist might have been able to accomplish if he were younger and in better health.

The next few weeks also saw the supporting figures being painted. Separately, the Vecin Workshop's maker of garments also managed to complete all the needed clothing.  In just a month later, or by early March, everything was complete.  Simon of Cyrene was looking quite spiffy:

And so were a temple guard and the Roman Captain:

This meant that we were ready to go for another test-staging:

The only adjustment we deemed necessary was to fasten the guard's rope around Christ's head, like a noose, thereby shamelessly copying Salzillo's staging.

All throughout this, the Christ was a solid model of stoicism, silent grace, and acquiescence with the Father's will.

Another inside story coming up. It was at this point as well that a curious feature of this figure of Christ became clearly evident. Just as with Salzillo's La Caida Cristo, the form and pose of the image seemed to change depending on which angle it was viewed from.  No doubt this is because unlike other more conventional straight-standing processional images that essentially operate in only one or two dimensions of space, this twisted figure of Christ was active in three planes, and appeared to move into a fourth, depending on how one cast his gaze at it.

The Christ didn't move, nor did He avert His gaze momentarily. It was my camera and I who did.

By mid-March, the final component was ready to roll, quite literally.  This was the custom-made carroza, also from the Vecin Workshop, of some obscure but non-endangered variety of hardwood found in the mountains south of Manila.  With an overall height of over six feet, and the top floor measuring five feet wide by ten feet long, it conformed exactly to Kiko Vecin's design specifications to ensure that it would serve as a worthy "theatrical stage" for this tableau.

Given its size and mass, double solid steel wheels were specified throughout, mated to a rigid solid metal chassis with coil-spring suspension.  And the design and carvings on its body, on all four sides, were certainly nothing to be sniffed at either.

And so with Holy Week just a week away, we were all set. Almost.

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Post script: The other Christ head that had by now been earmarked for Makati Poblacion was also painted quite nicely by the Vecin Workshop's long-time encarnador, immediately after he had painted our Christ.

Not bad at all, but I'm not conceding anything. Would you?

[Continued.]

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Originally published on 17 April 2007.  All text and photos copyright ©2007 Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

Original comments:

nsconsolacionycorrea wrote on Apr 18, '07 The Cristo is wonderful!!!!!

coolkiko wrote on Apr 18, '07 very cool... dude,,, you can view my lent in the province album maybe it will interest you also. the mater dolorosa's caro is made out of silver.. one of only two known in our province

arcastro57 wrote on Apr 18, '07 Wonderful documentation.."The Making Of Our Family's Tercera Caida"! Like watching a movie unfold...

alvinjay2000 wrote on Apr 18, '07 I agree Alex, Im all inspired na tuloy na magpagawa uli ng santo! This is what all of us serious santeros wanted to have as your paso or santos, that they should be made of high degree of quality and envokes a feeling of awe and inspiration for other people to see.

robbyandharry wrote on Apr 19, '07 you really documented your Tercera Caida well... cheers Leo!