Blessed Virgin Mary with Saint Dominic and Saint Francis

Marian piety, so fervent in Spain during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, later flourished throughout its various regions within its diverse colonial territories. Indeed, in the New World, frequent new advocations of the Virgin Mary such as the Virgin of Cocharcas and the Virgin of Guápulo garnered local devotion associated with her miraculous apparitions in a certain town or village (C. Damian, The Virgin of the Andes: Art and Ritual in Colonial Cuzco, Miami Beach, Grassfield Press, 1995, p. 9). European masters, such as the Jesuit Bernardo Bitti and Angelino Medoro who arrived in Lima in 1600 and is known to have apprentices, including Luis de Riaño, created public and private images that would inspire others. Furthermore, subsequent masters established their workshops throughout other important centers; equally critical was the organization of guilds by local or indigenous artists who had received their training from earlier European masters. The religious orders such as the Dominicans and Franciscans were also influential in the promulgation of Marian devotion. Featured in this painting are Saints Dominic and Francis who openly expressed their love for the Virgin during their lifetime. Saint Dominic, who advocated praying the rosary, is portrayed in contemplation of the Virgin and holding a lily, a symbol of her purity. Saint Francis points to his stigmata or wound, while venerating the Virgin.

Typical of the Cuzco School is this lavish composition employing the meticulous application of gold on the holy figures. Saints Dominic and Francis are robed in richly detailed habits of their respective orders in adoration of this holy manifestation. The Virgin’s dazzling mantle and cloak are covered in delicate floral and leaf motifs; the rays around her head create a subtle pattern that forms her halo as she holds her hands in prayer. The Virgin occupies the center of the painting in her role as Mother of God. God the Father is directly above her; the Holy Spirit on her heart fills her with grace; and the small figure of her newly-born Holy Child, rests on a white pillow covered in gold flowers. The dogma of the Holy Trinity is clearly illustrated through the placement of these figures. Flanking God the Father are his two Archangels—Michael with his shield and sword and Gabriel with a white lily and raised hand as he appeared to the Virgin to announce the good news of humanity’s salvation through her.

The cartouche at center bottom calls attention to the words in the Gospel according to Luke and spoken by the Archangel Gabriel to Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, upon his visitation. She was to conceive His Son who would be called Jesus as the four letters “YHWH,” indicate (Luke 1:26-38: “Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus”). Painted nearly half a millennium ago, this rendering of the Divine almost in conversation with humanity must have been overwhelming and almost miraculous especially to the peoples of Tawantinsuyu who held deeply spiritual concepts about creation even before coming into contact with Christianity (Tawantinsuyu or “the four corners” is the Quechua word for the Inca Empire).

MJ Aguilar, Ph.D.