El Arte de Vestir a la Virgen

It is the hands of the dresser that culminate the work that began with a gouge in his workshop. The art of dressing the images of the Virgin Mary (Imago Mariae), has been moving from anonymity and almost accessory, to a plot that currently has great importance, since it has highlighted the need for a correct aesthetic in the brotherhoods, which moves the piety of the faithful and that by the same, the Marian figure is exalted. This has always been the responsibility of the dressers, mostly men, of whom we already have evidence in the sixteenth century, true artists of the ephemeral, creators of styles for each Virgin, who have been able to supply with their work in a work of candlestick what the sculptor and polychromator does with the full size. The interest in this subject goes far beyond the mere contemplation of the different attires that the virgins wear during the year, but there is a real demand to know their history, their iconographic and iconological language and to know what messages are hidden behind the tertiary or loose cloaks, the bursts, crowns, headdresses and other garments and accessories. All this is what has given birth to this book, a publication in which we collect the evolution of the Virgin's clothing from its origins to the present day.