PROPERTY FROM THE DON BENITO J. LEGARDA JR. COLLECTION

ABOUT THE WORK

This masterfully carved relleve may have once been part of larger altar frieze or one of a pair of panels serving as the doors of a large tabernacle. The subjects is St. Dominic, the founder of the Dominican order. He is shown here in the habit of his order, holding aloft the triumphant banner (other times, he is shown holding a sprig of lilies to symbolize his chastity). Beside him is the faithful dog bearing a lighted taper or torch. The iconography stems from the legend that Dominic‘s mother while pregnant, dreamt that she would give birth to dog, in whose mouth was held a torch “to inflame the world with the love of God.” Catholic scholars now suggest that the dog may have been a visual pun on the word “Dominicanus” or Dominican friar and phrase “Domini Canis” or Dog of the Lord. The Dominicans were responsible for the evangelization of large parts of Batanes, Zambales, Pangasinan and most important, the Cagayan Valley, where this relleve may have come from.