Santo Head Study No. 1

In Santo Head Study No. 1, Cady Wells depicted the head of an unknown saint from his extensive collection of Spanish Colonial art. Wells looked to the religious paintings of Georges Rouault for inspiration and used a limited mottled palette suggestive of stained glass.

Cady Wells began collecting Spanish Colonial religious art after meeting E. Boyd, a fellow artist who would become one of the foremost experts on the Santero tradition. Over roughly fifteen years, Wells would amass a collection of approximately 250 pieces and ultimately donated his collection to the Museum of New Mexico in 1951 with the condition that E. Boyd be hired as a curator for a newly formed Department of Spanish Colonial Art.