This anonymous work of exquisite fattura and complex composition belongs specifically to the 18th-century New Spanish Baroque repertory of religious imagery depicting Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The previously unpublished canvas we are presenting here portrays the miraculous episode narrated in the Nican Mopohua text, where the Virgin appears to the indigenous Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac. This legend dating back to 1531 goes on to tell how Our Lady asked Diego to request Friar Bishop Juan de Zumárraga build a temple in her name, leaving an impression of her image on the former’s cloak, or “tilma”, as physical proof and justification.

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