The Virgin of the Rosary

Born in Oaxaca in 1695, Miguel Cabrera was one of the most celebrated painters of his age. Cabrera’s fame rests on his many secular and religious works executed in Mexico City for the Church and its social elites. Of Zapotec origins, his casta paintings document an era and society keenly concerned with racial and social distinctions and classifications and offer great historical insight. Cabrera’s oeuvre is vast and over the course of his life and up to the present, sought and collected by private and public collectors and museums worldwide including Museo Soumaya, and Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City; Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, The Brooklyn Museum, to name a few.1
Under her expansive mantle of mercy or pallium the Virgin Mary who tenderly holds the Holy Child, protects all those who seek refuge and safety. She seems to have descended from heaven to be close to those who need her. Included in the heavenly retinue are Saints Joseph, John the Baptist, Barbara and others who hold her sacred cloak. The Dominican friars and nuns who are in awe of the divine presence include, Saint Dominic who is receiving the Holy Rosary from her hands; Saints Thomas Aquinas, the author of the Summa Theologiae with his quill as well as Saint Catherine of Siena who is receiving the Rosary from the Holy Child and Saints Rose of Lima and Agnes of Montepulciano. Devotion to the Holy Rosary spread rapidly in Europe at various times through the efforts of the Dominican friars.
Cabrera was a master of emotion, clearly evident in the way he has subtly rendered each of the figures with great piety at the sight of the Virgin’s apparition. Portrayals of the Virgin with arms outstretched, holding a wide cloak with people sheltering for protection, date to the early 13th century and are associated with Our Lady of Mercy. The proliferation of this image may be due to Franciscan veneration to this image of the Virgin which spread throughout Europe and subsequently to the Spanish-held territories in the Americas. Cabrera is known to have painted other similar works such as Alegoría de la Virgen como protectora de los Dominicos, in the collection of the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City; Patrocinio de San José, private collection, Puebla; and Patrocinio de la Virgen sobre la Compañía de Jesús, Tepotzotlán.
M.J. Aguilar, Ph.D.


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1 M. C. García Sáiz, “A Bridge of Colors: Mexican Painting in Spain” in Artes de México, INVIERNO 1993-1994, Nueva epoca, No. 22, TESOROS DE MÉXICO EN ESPAÑA (INVIERNO 1993-1994), 93-97.