Miracle in Mexico
Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whom the Pope recently named patroness of the Americas.Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico. According to a miracle reported in 1531, the Virgin appeared to Juan Diego, a newly converted Native American shepherd, and imprinted her image on his cloak. Fresquís, one of the first native-born santeros (creators of saint images) working in northern New Mexico, followed Catholic convention by showing the Virgin on a dark crescent moon within a mandorla (almond-shaped radiance) of light. An accomplished draftsman, Fresquís used a linear style and scratched through the paint to create the decorative borders along the top and bottom of the wood panel.
Source: Andrew Connors. Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).
Pictured: Pedro Antonio Fresquís, 1749–1831, Our Lady of Guadalupe, about 1780–1830, water-based paint on wood, 18 5/8 x 10 3/4 x 7/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson.
Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whom the Pope recently named patroness of the Americas.Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico. According to a miracle reported in 1531, the Virgin appeared to Juan Diego, a newly converted Native American shepherd, and imprinted her image on his cloak. Fresquís, one of the first native-born santeros (creators of saint images) working in northern New Mexico, followed Catholic convention by showing the Virgin on a dark crescent moon within a mandorla (almond-shaped radiance) of light. An accomplished draftsman, Fresquís used a linear style and scratched through the paint to create the decorative borders along the top and bottom of the wood panel.