Tiernas Súplicas con que Invocan las Jóvenes
de Cuarenta Años al Milagroso
San Antonio de Padua -- Pidiéndole su Consuelo.
Tender Supplications Invoked by Forty-Year-Old
Young Ladies
to the Miraculous St. Anthony of Padua -- Asking for His Consolation.
Broadside, engraving on pink paper, continued verso,
1911
12" x 8"
Signed: Posada
JCC.JGP: V10
"Miraculous Saint Anthony,
I'm begging you, crying,
Please give me a good husband,
Because my clock is ticking."
In a satiric verse, women at the edge of becoming "overripe"
beseech St. Anthony of Padua to bestow upon them a husband --
any kind of a husband! In their desperation to avert the shame
of becoming an old maid they are willing to accept even the devil
as a mate. The print reinforces the early 20th century Mexican
ideals of macho men and of subservient women in the home raising
their families.