Luce Foundation Center for American Art
Painting: 18th century: La Virgen del pilar
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La Virgen del pilar late 18th century José Campeche y Jordan oil on canvas mounted to a board 23 x 16 7/8 in. (58.4 x 42.9 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum, Teodoro Vidal Collection 1996.91.8  
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Devotion to the Virgin is an important element of Puerto Rican Catholicism. The Madonna is venerated in many guises, each with its own iconography. According to Spanish legend, the apostle James, patron saint of Spain, saw a vision of the Virgin Mary one night while he was praying on the banks of the Ebro at Saragoza. Mary asked for a church to be built on that spot. The church, Santa Maria la Mayor, was erected along with a statue of the Virgin mounted on a marble pillar. By 1456, the term Virgen del Pilar was so common among Catholics that Pope Calixtus III confirmed the name by papal decree. (Yvonne Lange, "Santos: The Household Wooden Saints of Puerto Rico," PhD diss., 1975) |
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