Spanish Colonial School - South America - A Mexican Virgin o...

Estimate

£1,500 - £2,500

Spanish Colonial School - South America - A Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe polyptych ecclesiastic panel. The panel having five oil on canvas paintings depicting the appearance of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe. Each painting enclosed in a cross shaped gilt wood frame with intricate floral & foliate carvings on red ground. The panel measures approx. 185cm tall x 165cm wide x 10cm deep.

According to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, a man of Aztec descent who had converted to Christianity, on December 9, 1531. She asked Juan Diego to build a shrine on the spot where she had appeared, Tepeyac Hill, now in a suburb of Mexico City. The local bishop—an important church official—demanded that Juan Diego provide a sign that would prove the Virgin Mary had really appeared to him before he would agree to build a church on the site. The Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego again on December 12 and miraculously showed him where to pick roses, even though it was winter, to take to the bishop as proof that she had really appeared. Juan Diego collected the roses in his cloak, went before the bishop, and then opened his cloak to show him the roses. Dozens of roses fell to the floor and his cloak had a beautiful picture of the Virgin Mary inside. The bishop was stunned by the miracle and ordered that a church be built in her honor on Tepeyac Hill.