THE FRANCISCAN BLESSED ANTÔNIO DE NOTO:

BLACK DEVOTIONAL SCULPTURES IN BRAZIL BETWEEN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES

Abstract

The article presents a study on the devotional wooden images of the black Franciscan blessed Antonio de Noto, better known as Antonio "de Categeró" in Brazil, from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The mentioned Franciscan black devotion participated in the campaign of Christianization of the enslaved during that period. The action of the Capuchin Minor Friars and the brotherhoods of the Black Rosary resulted in the commissioning and production of polychrome sculptures destined for a series of built temples and domestic spaces. The methodology employed consisted of conducting a review of theoretical-practical studies for the technical and material analysis of representative sculptures. Possible influences of sociocultural issues, religious history, models, and reappropriations of iconographic representation of this veneration at the moment of conversion of blacks in the colonial universe and its ramifications were analyzed. The preservation of black devotional sculptures belonging to Brazilian heritage requires constant debate and symbolic interpretation, given their popularity, material relevance, and immaterial significance.