VISUAL CONNECTIONS AND POSSIBLE MEANINGS:

Birds and insects in the polychromy of sculpture of our Lady of Conception in one front of the jesuít altar

Abstract

This article analyzes the polychromy of the image of Our Lady of Conceição in the main altarpiece
of the main church of Conceição da Feira, Bahia. The work has a characteristic of 19th century
Catholic sculpture, with a differential in the elements that integrate the decoration of its clothes. In
it, the artist excluded the classic formula repeated by bahian polychromators, where golden finials
with floral groups in the center predominate, and used elements such as volutes, arabesques,
simulation of embroidery and sgraffito. The presence of butterflies and hummingbirds further
enhances its uniqueness. It presents some meanings attributed to these animals within the christian
conception and we draw a possible parallel between these ornamental motifs and those that adorn
the front of the altar remaining from the Jesuit church of the former Belém Seminary, built at the
end of the 17th century, in the village of the same name. Which belongs to Cachoeira, a city that at
that time was an important village in colonial Brazil.