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Meet Margaret Contompasis and, while you’re at it, get a lesson in art history, too.

And now for the art history lesson.

Retablos were not originally created as art objects but were functional items to be touched or kissed by their owners, and they were often hung above burning candles on a home altarpiece. "Retablo" comes from the word "retable" or "behind the altar" and refers to devotional paintings—usually on tin-coated iron—depicting Jesus, the Virgin Mary, saints and other religious figures. While this art flourished during the 19th century in Mexico, it can be traced to paintings on wood, copper and canvas from European and Mexican artists between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, and there are pre-Columbian precedents, as well.

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