We saw various statues dotted around the town, which of course I photographed but it wasn’t til we got back did I look up their provenance. The art of papier-mâché in Lecce, a phenomenon unique to Apulia, dates back to a period between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the development of arts was linked to the increasing number of churches and monuments. At the time, the craftsmen of Lecce discovered that the art of “plasticising” paper allowed them to create myriad sacred works to help summon the faithful back to worship when the Counter-Reformation Church was engaged in its crusade against the Lutheran heresy.
The craftsmen did not have access to precious materials, and as such they were forced to make use of other, poorer materials such as straw, rags, glue and plaster.
Ian