Sunday, February 20, 2000

Goliad fresco a special bond for area family

Reba Graham/Special to the Caller-Times

Mary G. Flores and Guadalupe Flores posed for the fresco in the chapel of Presidio La Bahia in Goliad in 1946. The fresco depicts the story of the angel Gabriel's announcement, called the Annunciation, to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to Jesus.

Brother-, sister-in-law, now 71, discuss modeling for artwork
   A collective sense of history binds the Goliad families who for generations have attended Sunday Mass at Presidio La Bah¡a's Our Lady of Loreto Chapel.
   Among the faithful attending services recently at this 18th-century Spanish chapel is 28-year-old Veronica Kirk, who needs only to look to its altar to know that her family's legacy is intertwined with this historic presidio as deep as the region's cultural roots.
   Captured in a 1946 fresco on the chapel's arch-shaped wall, painted by the late Corpus Christi artist Antonio E. Garcia, is the likeness of Kirk's grandmother, Mary G. Flores, and Kirk's grand-uncle, Guadalupe Flores. Both were 17 years old when they modeled for Garcia's painting of "The Annunciation," depicting the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she was to bear Jesus, said Presidio La Bah¡a's director, Newton Warzecha.
   "They're not ones to talk much about it," said Kirk. "But I like to brag about it. It's so special to us. Because of it, they will forever be a part of Goliad."
   Mary Flores and her brother-in-law concede that few outside their circle of family and friends know that they modeled for Garcia. Fifty-four years later, the pair, now 71, discuss those recollections publicly for the first time.
   The face of Mary
   "It is such a wonderful heritage that we have here in Goliad," Warzecha said, delighted that the Floreses have elected to speak of their participation in something that will remain a part of Goliad life for generations to come.
   "It is so important that we preserve and share this history and in this and all cases, we need to do a better job of recording it," he said.
   The work was commissioned by Mary Lambert. Garcia chose "The Annunciation" scene to grace Our Lady of Loreto's altar because the Italian city of Loreto has a shrine dedicated to the annunciation. It holds the house believed to have been the home of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nazareth, where the annunciation took place.
   Garcia found his model for the Virgin Mary with the help of a priest from La Bah¡a, who spotted Mary Flores and recommended the angelic-looking teen-ager to the artist.
   "I don't remember much," Flores said. "But my sister told me that there were a lot of girls who wanted to model for it."
   The face of Gabriel
   Priests also found the young man who gave the angel Gabriel a face. Guadalupe Flores' mother was working as a cook for priests at Immaculate Conception Church. He happened to be visiting his mother at work one day when they saw him and thought he would make the perfect Gabriel.
   For her sittings, Mary Flores donned a flowing white dress gathered at the bodice. On her head, she wore a shiny blue veil that cascaded to the floor and sparkled with flecks of gold.
   "He was such a nice man, very patient," said Mary Flores of the artist who came to her house after school had let out. "I remember him being a little man, a little taller than me."
   Flores regrets that she does not know what became of the dress, but she treasures a rough sketch that Garcia signed and gave to her. Flores said she intends to bequeath it to her children upon her death.
   Through the years, Flores said she made it a point never to brag that she had modeled for La Bah¡a's chapel painting.
   "Of course, it was a big honor," Mary Flores said. "But I've never seen myself in that painting. What I see is the Virgin Mary. I'm still just the same simple girl I was back then."
  
 

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