École mexicaine de la Maravilla Americana Lot n° 116

Mexican School of the Maravilla Americana Virgen de Guadalupe, circa 1750 Oil on canvas 209 x 123 cm (Restoration to a corner, cleaning, minor restorations and canvas re-slung on a new stretcher with protective canvas) Our Lady of Guadalupe, or Virgin of Guadalupe, is the name given to the Virgin Mary who is said to have appeared in 1531 to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, a young Aztec who converted to Catholicism after the arrival of the conquistadors, on Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City. The image is said to have been miraculously printed on Juan Diego's Tilma (a garment worn as a coat by Aztec men), as he presented the bishop of Mexico City with Spanish roses as proof of the Marian apparitions he said he had experienced. The Virgin is represented in contemplative prayer with her hands joined, her little finger separated, and her head slightly bowed. She is wearing a pink dress and a blue-green cape decorated with eight-pointed stars, a necklace and a belt tied at the waist. The dress is studded with gold motifs of vines and flowers. She is depicted standing on a black crescent moon. An angel in bust form with outstretched arms supports the lower part of the dress. Rays of sunlight surround the Virgin in a mandorla. Although the figure of the Virgin remains the same, variations appear in its periphery in many works from the 17th century. The presence of cherubs and roses around the figure, in reference to those deposited with the bishop of Mexico, and cartouches in the corners narrating the apparition of Juan Diego are often found. In the lower part, there is a representation of the Tepeyac hill. The Virgin of Guadalupe was progressively recognized by the Catholic Church and became successively patroness of Mexico City, then patroness of Mexico, patroness of Latin America before being proclaimed Queen of Mexico and Empress of the Americas. The image of the Virgin of Guadalupe was used as a standard during the Mexican War of Independence and is considered a national symbol. Several churches were built on the site of the apparition before the construction of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City in 1976, which preserves the original Tilma of Juan Diego and has become the most visited Catholic devotional site in the world after the Vatican.