025

  • Our Lady of Guadalupe

  • Early to mid 19th century
  • Artist unknown, Mexican Colonial
  • Oil on canvas on masonite
  • 36.9 x 29.8 cm.,14-1/2 x 11-3/4"
  • Augustana College Art and Art History Department Purchase through Catherine Carter Goebel in Honor of the Sisters of the Visitation, Villa de Chantal, with Conservation Services Donated by Mr. Barry Bauman, Paul A. Anderson Art History Collection, Augustana College 1991.80

Essay by Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Former Associate Professor of Religions

This painting is a typical one of colonial Mexico and depicts the apparition of la Virgen de Guadalupe to Juan Diego. The colorful details tell the story of the December 1531 apparitions: the Castillian roses in the upper right-hand corner symbolize the roses that la Virgen caused to grow outside Mexico City and which Mexican peasant Juan Diego scooped up in his maguey cactus fiber robe tilma to take to Bishop Zumarraga of Mexico City to prove the authenticity of la Virgen's apparitions to him. For his part, Juan Diego is depicted as a dark-skinned Indian peasant, and the legend is that la Virgen spoke to him in his native Nahuatl language. He genuflects before her to honor her, and his open tilma holds pink Castillian roses.

La Virgen in this painting resembles the typical colonial Mexican depiction of her. She is darker-skinned than other colonial-era Virgins, she holds some of the roses as a way to acknowledge her powers as a heavenly mediatrix, and around her waist we see a sash which indicates she is pregnant. Gold rays extend from her figure and gold traces the edges of her headpiece, indicating her heavenly identity. Moreover, she wears a golden crown, indicating her place as Queen of the Heavens. Her mantle is blue and embedded in it are 46 stars. The angel who lifts her up is interpreted by most scholars as the angel of Revelations and she is seen by some as the Woman of the Apocalypse. The Virgin of Guadalupe's primary identity in New Spain was that she was the patroness of a colonized people. Her pregnancy, darker-colored skin, and use of Juan Diego's native language when addressing him are all cited as her place as "mother" of the Mexican people. As a mestiza, she marks the birth of Mexico and the mestizo identity of Mexicans.

The now-standard story of the apparitions are that the Virgin appeared to Juan Diego three times and that it was on the third visit that he took the roses to the bishop and upon opening his tilma, the roses became embedded, along with the image of la Virgen, on the robe. Notably, la Virgen has darker skin than Spanish national Virgins and is called "la Morena" and "la Morencita" by her millions of devotees around the world.