(Stations of the Cross) / Ca 1800 / Polychromed hardwood bas-relief with glass / Stations 1-12: average 1 x 1.5 m; station 13: 75 x 75 cm  / Artist: Anonymous / Roman Catholic Parish Church of San Ildefonso, Tanay, Rizal

The Tanay Via Crucis were apparently carved by at least two different artists. Stations 1-12 are attributed to an anonymous 18th-century master from Tanay. Stations 13-14 appear to be of different styles; the 13th depicting the Pieta or Angustia, is crudely carved. The 14th, depicting the Deposition, is carved in the manner of 19th-century sculptures. All the stations are framed by a wooden border and enclosed in the church’s wall by a stucco frame surmounted by the number of the station and a cross.

The first 12 stations are gems of sculpture. All figures, except that of Christ, have round bulging eyes; the soldiers have masklike faces. Stylization is evident in the faces of many soldiers who wear goatees, handlebar moustaches, and garments and plumed helmets that look like stage costumes. Anachronisms in the costume may be seen, as in the clothing of the women of Jerusalem that resemble those of Spanish peasants, and of Veronica who wears a nun’s veil. Proportions are used symbolically, as seen in the diminutive figures of a child and a woman standing in front of Pilate’s tribunal.

The naivete and improper proportions of the figures mark the first 12 reliefs as products of the 18th century, the same century in which Tanay Church was built.