Viceregal school of the 18th century.
"The Virgin as protector".
Oil on canvas.
Re-drawn.
Measurements: 34,5 x 24,5 cm; 57 x 48 cm (frame).
Painting of colonial period, realized in Mexican workshops. The figure of the Virgin with the Child, in her invocation of protector of the humanity, opens her mantle giving symbolic shelter to the representatives of the divine power on earth. Mittens and croziers proliferate among them, as bishops and popes are the propagators of the divine message. Two archangels crown the Virgin, distributed on either side, a symmetry that continues in the distribution of the human groups flanking the Virgin. The sumptuousness of the robes, the strings of pearls and gold brocades have been captured in an attempt to bring out the right sheen and quality.
After the Council of Trent, the Church reasserted its control over artistic production. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the representation of religious images was favoured through allegory and symbols as a means of expression. The didactic function of the religious image was favoured, which acquired a peculiar character in the works of New Spain.