ALTARPIECE OF OUR LADY OF BETHLEHEM

HISTORY 

We have no information whatsoever about how this altarpiece arrived in Laredo. According to a document dated in the XVIII century, the largest side chapel in the nave of the Church of Bethlehem where the altarpiece is currently located was originally private property that was later made over to the parish church, though the document provides neither the date nor the identity of the donor.

Several tombs belonging to some merchant families in the town stand here, such as the Vélez Capuchín and the Escalante families, both of whom had business contacts with Flanders.  We also know that these and other families, such as the Obra and Villota families, used to hang their family coats of arms here and that they all had their own pews in church for hearing Mass. No significant information has appeared, however, to reveal which of them took the initiative to acquire this particular altarpiece.

The altarpiece's architectural structure was altered around 1700 when reliefs were incorporated into a fully Baroque altarpiece connected with workshops in Limpias.