New Spanish school; second half of the eighteenth century. "Guadalupe's Virgin". Oil on canvas.

Novo-Hispanic school; second half of the 18th century.
"Virgin of Guadalupe".
Oil on canvas. Re-tinted.
It has repainting and restorations.
It possesses frame of epoch with faults.
Measurements: 188 x 109 cm; 200 x 122 cm (frame).
The work shows a celestial background with white clouds. In the centre, immersed in a golden light highlighted by numerous rays emerging from her figure, is the Virgin Mary, dressed in a blue mantle and a tunic underneath, standing on a lunar crescent held by an angel. The Virgin joins her hands in an attitude of prayer, bowing her head, with her eyes closed, and highlighted by a crown on her head. This "particular type of Immaculate" shows its Baroque influence in style and iconography, but already introduces some colours in its palette more related to the 18th century, although without varying the previous models to any great extent. The scene is accompanied by four corner scrolls showing different images in which the Virgin appears to her parishioners.
The image is clearly the Virgin of Guadalupe. The iconography of the Virgin of Guadalupe acquired great richness and variety, especially from the 17th century onwards. The representation we are concerned with here faithfully follows that of the original canvas (attributed to the indigenous artist Marcos Cà pac, 16th century): the crescent moon at her feet held by an angel, the rays bordering the figure, the mandorla, the crown, the Virgin's dark complexion... Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Marian invocation of the Catholic Church, whose image has its main centre of worship in the Basilica of Guadalupe, in the north of Mexico City. According to Mexican oral tradition, it is believed that the Virgin Mary appeared four times to Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on the hill of Tepeyac. Juan Diego, in the last apparition of the Virgin, carried in his ayate some flowers that he had cut on Tepeyac, according to the Virgin's order. He unfolded his ayate before Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, revealing the image of the Virgin Mary, a brunette with mestizo features. Since ancient times, the Mesoamerican peoples had already venerated a deity called Tonantzin on the hill of Tepeyac, hence a certain syncretism with the assimilation of the message brought by the Virgin Mary. This event was known as the Miracle of the Roses, and was recorded in the "Nican Mopohua", a text presumably written by the Indian Antonio Valeriano.
From the time of the Viceroyalty, an outstanding cult developed around his figure, which is linked to a great artistic production in which the influences of local art on the novelties and artistic traditions brought from Europe can be clearly appreciated, in which a prominent participation of the Sevillian school can be observed, as this city was the centre of trade with America. It should be pointed out that the origin of the Virgin of Guadalupe is from Extremadura, but the Mexican version has very particular characteristics and is of great importance.