Made in the Americas?: deciphering the enigma of the Mano Poderosa

Abstract

The Mano Poderosa is an unusual devotional image whose origins are still unknown. It is composed primarily of a disembodied hand, usually identified as the Hand of Christ, and perched on top of each finger are the figures of Jesus, Saint Joseph, Virgin Mary, Saint Joachim, and Saint Anne. Its devotees pray to the image and ask for its divine intercession to grant them an otherwise impossible request. First, we will look closely at various visual manifestations of this image in Mexican tin-retablo painting and in Puerto Rican santos carving tradition, and explore the compositional differences according to its medium. Consequently, we will attempt to trace back the iconography of the theological concepts that make up the image to gain a better understanding of how these concepts were combined to create this devotion. Furthermore, a historiographic review of the multiple theories of the birth of this image will be presented, as I provide additional evidence for the most plausible theory which says that this devotional image might have been born in New Spain as a product of the cultural interplay between the Franciscan missionaries and the Natives they indoctrinated.