María Candelaria
(María Candelaria)

An artist tells the story of a painting he bas always refused to sell of a beautiful Indian woman, naked. In Xochimilco in 1909, Maria Candelaria and her fiancé, Lorenzo Rafael are poor, but very much in love with each other. They have to contend with the nastiness of the villagers who treat Maria with contempt for being the daughter of a former prostitute.
The hatred of the villagers intensifies when the painting is discovered. Maria Candelaria had, in fact, accepted to pose for the painting, but only her face is represented. The painter completed the painting with another woman posing for the body. The rioting villagers burn Maria’s boat and chase her all the way to the prison where Lorenzo Rafael is serving a sentence for theft : Lorenzo had stolen quinine to cure bis wife’s malaria when the village druggist refused to sell it to him. Maria Candelaria dies in the arms of Lorenzo Rafael who succeeds in breaking the prison bars.