Community Corner
Painter of Replica 'Crucifixion' a Part of Mission San Juan's History
In 1973, William Maldonado, the church's organist, painted the replica that hung on the walls of Mission San Juan Capistrano until last month.
Originally published 10:01 a.m., July 9, 2013.
In the coming months, as thousands of dollars are spent conserving and ultimately restoring the 200-year-old painting recently uncovered from beneath a replica in Mission San Juan, much of the conversation will be about the piece itself.
And why not? At more than 200 years old, "The Crucifixion" is a treasure from the hand of Spanish colonial artist Francisco Zervas.
But what of the artist, who at the behest of his priest in 1973 agreed to paint a replica that the church would proudly display until last month?
William Maldonado, now 83, talked with the Los Angeles Times about his work, and what led him to agree to help restore the church's 14 paintings depicting the Stations of the Cross.
Of the 19th Century work, which had been damaged and weathered by years of neglect, Maldonado told the paper: "You could hardly make out the scene. It was a big blob of mixed-up dark colors."
Maldonado, who was also the church's organist at the time, knew the reproduction would be lofty.
"But I guess it worked. The divine spirit of the upstairs man had me come up with the colors."
Maldonado told the Los Angeles Times that when his piece was finally put up in the early 1970s, few people took notice, or even realized it was a replica.
In the coming months, as thousands of dollars are spent conserving and ultimately restoring the 200-year-old painting recently uncovered from beneath a replica in Mission San Juan, much of the conversation will be about the piece itself.
And why not? At more than 200 years old, "The Crucifixion" is a treasure from the hand of Spanish colonial artist Francisco Zervas.
But what of the artist, who at the behest of his priest in 1973 agreed to paint a replica that the church would proudly display until last month?
William Maldonado, now 83, talked with the Los Angeles Times about his work, and what led him to agree to help restore the church's 14 paintings depicting the Stations of the Cross.
Of the 19th Century work, which had been damaged and weathered by years of neglect, Maldonado told the paper: "You could hardly make out the scene. It was a big blob of mixed-up dark colors."
Maldonado, who was also the church's organist at the time, knew the reproduction would be lofty.
"But I guess it worked. The divine spirit of the upstairs man had me come up with the colors."
Maldonado told the Los Angeles Times that when his piece was finally put up in the early 1970s, few people took notice, or even realized it was a replica.
"Those who did said, 'Well, it's about time they cleaned that painting. I thought that was a compliment."
And now that the attention will turn to the original, as the process of restoring it is underway, what will become of Maldonado's work?
It's not going anywhere, likely to be hung in a different part of the mission.
It's not going anywhere, likely to be hung in a different part of the mission.
"It's a part of the mission's history too," Mechelle Lawrence Adams, the mission's executive director, told the newspaper.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Corrected to reflect a Los Angeles Times correction regarding the number of paintings included in the Stations of the Cross.
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