The Sculpture of the Misiones Orientales represents one of the most substantial and valuable surviving legacies of the culture of the Misiones Orientales, a group of Jesuit missions among the Guarani founded in the current Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. At the time owned by Spain, the Misiones Orientales were typical examples of the missionary model developed by the Jesuits in the Americas: an indigenous community fixed in a more or less self-sufficient settlement, and administered by the priests of the Society of Jesus, with the help of the natives. The success of the missions was enormous, being social, cultural, political, economic, and urbanistic projects that were advanced for their time and place. The participation of the Indians was not achieved without difficulties, but thousands chose to live in these settlements voluntarily, being converted to Catholicism and acculturated to the forms and manners of European life, producing large quantities of art, always under Jesuit supervision.
This artistic production, where sculpture appeared in prominence, was guided by European aesthetic models, and emerged with the basic purpose of providing a visual aid to the catechesis of the indigenous - in the process of evangelization organized by the missionaries of the New World. These works incorporated a multiplicity of stylistic currents, some updated, others long obsolete in Europe itself. However, there was a predominance of Baroque forms, and characteristics of the natives were also infused to some extent. Thus, such works reveal unique characteristics that define them, according to some authors, as an individualized regional form. Most of the missionary sculpture collection was lost over time, but there is still a significant collection of more than 500 pieces distributed among public institutions and private collections.
The importance of the missionary sculptures as a historical and artistic document is immense, and for this reason, it was listed by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage. The remaining collection still needs attention and care not to be further depreciated, especially considering that half of the identified pieces belong to private individuals and are not preserved as they should be, and some continue to disappear or are getting destroyed despite official protection.
Among critics, however, the Sculpture of the Misiones Orientales is still a matter of controversy: for some, it is a unique and original expression of the multifaceted Latin American Baroque, while for others it is nothing more than a crude and slavish imitation of European models.