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Columbian artist Fernando Botero has an instantly recognizable style. Plumpness, I suppose it could be called. Plump animals, plump objects, plump prisoners and, above all, plump women.

One of Oviedo’s best statues is Botero’s La Maternidad, found in the Plaza de la Escandalera. A woman, hugely fat but also strikingly beautiful, looks to the right while her happy, fat infant plays on her knee. The proportions of the woman’s body are wild, with massive legs and hips supporting a relatively lithe upper body. Her breasts are small and pert, and her hair tied back into a long ponytail.

Despite her obesity, the feeling conveyed is one of health, with its clearly loved and well-nourished infant. Maternity an exuberant celebration of life, paying tribute to the joys of motherhood, and there can be little wonder that it’s one of the most popular of Oviedo’s many statues.

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