Dressing Image of the Virgin of Mercy or “The Pilgrim of Quito” (Imagen vestidera de la Virgen de la Merced o “Peregrina de Quito”)

Spanish Colonial Art
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Photo courtesy Carteia Fine Arts Madrid
My gallery Comment Tag
Photo courtesy Carteia Fine Arts Madrid
My gallery Comment Tag
Photo courtesy Carteia Fine Arts Madrid
My gallery Comment Tag
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A Rare Sculpture of “The Pilgrim of Quito”

June 13, 2022
Debuting in our current exhibition Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800 are several recent acquisitions, including a very special 18th-century polychromed sculpture from Ecuador. The small image represents the Virgin of Mercy, or “Pilgrim of Quito,” a miracle-working sculpture venerated in that city.

Dressing Image of the Virgin of Mercy or “The Pilgrim of Quito” (Imagen vestidera de la Virgen de la Merced o “Peregrina de Quito”)

Quito, circa 1700-1750
Sculpture
Polychromed and gilded wood, iron, and glass
20 7/8 × 9 13/16 × 9 7/16 in. (53 × 25 × 24 cm); Virgin: 20 1/16 × 9 13/16 in. (51 × 25 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund (M.2022.12a-e)
Latin American Art
Not currently on public view

Provenance

Private collection, New York, c. 1960; Showplace Antique Center, New York, Auction Sale 259, September 26, 2021, lot 83; Carteia Fine Arts, Madrid, 2021; LACMA, 2022.

Label

The Virgin of Mercy, or “Pilgrim of Quito,” was a miracle-working sculpture venerated in Ecuador....
The Virgin of Mercy, or “Pilgrim of Quito,” was a miracle-working sculpture venerated in Ecuador. After the devastating earthquake of 1698, the Mercedarians took her on a thirty-year alms-gathering mission across Spanish America and Spain. While many paintings were created after her, sculptures remain rare. A striking detail of this imagen vestidera (an image conceived to be clothed) is that the armature—usually left plain—is lavishly decorated with brocateado (gilded patterns in imitation of fine brocades). The figures’ plump and shiny faces with rosy cheeks are characteristic of Quito sculpture.

Ilona Katzew, 2022
More...

Bibliography

Exhibition history

  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800 Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800 Nashville, TN, Frist Art Museum, October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024