keykaiknows:

Manuel de Arellano (Mexico, active 1691-circa 1722)

Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe), 1691

Oil on canvas

This painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe is signed and dated by Manuel Arellano in 1691: it is a brilliant example of one of the most reproduced and venerated images of the Christian world.

According to tradition, in 1531 the Virgin Mary appeared to the recently converted Indian Juan Diego at the hill of Tepeyac, north of Mexico City. She directed him to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga (reigned 1528–1547) so he could build a church for her. When the bishop refused to believe Juan Diego, he returned to the hill where the Virgin appeared to him a second time, asking him to return to the bishop’s palace. Juan Diego followed the Virgin’s command but was again rebuffed. The Virgin then appeared to Juan Diego a third time, this time instructing him to gather a group of rare flowers to take to the bishop as proof. During his visit to the bishop, Juan Diego unfolded his cloak filled with the extraordinary flowers, revealing the miraculously imprinted image of the Virgin on his tunic. In awe, the bishop fell to his knees and begged the Virgin for forgiveness. According to tradition, the image imprinted on Juan Diego’s cloak is the same icon venerated at the Basílica of Guadalupe today.

The Virgin is depicted in the center surrounded by rays of light, encased by a mandorla of delicately rendered flowers. The composition is punctuated with four roundels at each corner that show the various moments of her apparition story. This is the first image of this iconic figure to enter the collection—an important addition to our growing collection of Spanish colonial art.

LACMA