This life-sized bust of Romana de la Pena de Careaga is on a white cement plinth about 3.5 feet tall. The piece may be bronze but is painted gold. It depicts the subject as an older woman, eyes closed in contemplation, and a slight smile of contentment. The viewer can she that she wear a shawl or jacket over a dress with a lacy collar. There is no indication at the site of the artist...however, a plaque beside the work indicates that it was donated by District 4150 of the Mazatlan Rotary Club in June 1999.
The plaque on the bust's plinth reads:
"A LA MEMORIA
DE LA ILUSTRE
BENEFACTORA
SRA. DONA
ROMANA DE LA PENA
DE CAREAGA
CLUB ROTARIO
DE MAZATLAN"
This website (
visit link) has a photo of De La Pena and a photo of sculpture when the plinth was painted brown.
The website is in Spanish...but translated into English, informs us:
"Childhood was her biggest concern. She gave part of her life so that those who lacked a home could have one. A woman of great temple and firm convictions, Ms. Inzunza Roman de la Peña, better known as Romanita de la Peña, was concerned that these children did not lack anything.
Romanita born on August 24, 1876 at the matrimonial Spanish based in Mazatlan.
Her parents, Dona Romana Inzunza and Don Antonio de la Peña, known throughout Mexico as the owner of the leaders who crossed the west and northwest of the country, along with much of Mazatlan then, also owner of the grocery store, one of the largest in the state that supplied Sinaloa and Baja California, and holders of several mines.
Romanita was the last of the four children of the marriage. Manuel, Micaela and her brothers were called Evodio. From her parents, philanthropists, she learned the love of neighbors, was motherless at age six, so she took over household responsibilities. From this age she learned to love children, such was the case that the children of the servants who died began gathering, sleeping in her bedroom in small cots. I had three who said they were her children.
Dona Romanita is known as the pioneer of charity in Mazatlan, a person who despite personal tragedies, knew how to take forward the ideal that was born and brought in her being: build a home for children who were abandoned, a home to care for them until they could fend for themselves."