Painted ex-votos

Multimodal popular devotional material

Abstract

This article stems from our doctoral thesis, which examines Brazilian and Portuguese painted ex-votos from the 18th and 19th centuries through a philological lens. We argue that these ex-votos function as multimodal texts, combining verbal elements (the captions) and non-verbal elements (the paintings) to create a dual form of communication. The painted images and captions complement each other, enhancing the clarity, persuasiveness, and memorability of the ex-votive narrative, particularly in religious pilgrimage settings. Typically, the narrative structure of ex-votos – a fixed feature – integrates linguistic and non-linguistic elements and unfolds in three sequential stages: the event, the individual’s response, and the divine intervention. A recurring communicative purpose underpins all ex-votos, driven by an evocation that records a social or religious event as an act of gratitude and communal testimony. When analyzing a collection of ex-votos from a religious site, we observe that each piece blends the (partial) repetition of familiar narratives with the unique, individual experiences of the devotees.