Mexican milagros. The overall effect is surprisingly colorful,
despite the fact that almost everything is either gold or white.
“People come in here and see all this stuff and they think
we must be very religious,” says Cosgrove of the home she
and her husband, Perry Burr, have shared for nearly 20 years.
“But I am not religious at all, not in the traditional sense. I
just think of it as incredibly beautiful handmade art, which
just so happens to have been commissioned by the Catholic
Church because that was the biggest patron in the 16th, 17th
and 18th centuries.”
For years, Cosgrove has been collecting decorative archi-
tectural remnants and relics from Mexico, Latin America
and Europe. What began as a curiosity about early Italian
crèche figures (traditionally created at Christmastime for an
elaborate nativity scene) eventually spiraled into a collection
of larger pieces. A gilded vargueno (writing desk) from Spain
stands in the dining room, a wrought-iron gate from Mexico
takes up an entire wall in the living room, a pair of seven-foot
fluted columns from Mexico flank a doorway, and Cosgrove’s
treasured remnants from Italy abound.
“I definitely went through a French rococo phase,” Cos-
grove says, “but much of it was too perfect, too fussy for
me. I gravitate toward the earlier Italianate hand-worked
objects because they have an authenticity to them. I pre-
fer the cruder works. In fact, if I could afford it, I’d have
Roman stuff all over the place.”
To Cosgrove, it’s not about the pedigree as much as how
The traditional architecture and white furnishings in the living room
set the stage for Cosgrove’s collection of gilded rococo artifacts,
including a 17th-century Italian framed mirror and an 18th-century
carved wood chest. Above: Cosgrove’s favorite pieces may be her
various reliquary — elaborately carved statues designed for an altar
and containing the bones, clothing or other relics of a saint. The
pair of 18th-century painted Roman busts, flanking the doorway to
the sunroom, came from the Max Fleischer estate.
