Antonio de Arellano
Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe)1691

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Oil painting of a full-length standing female figure in a black star-covered mantle and cream robe, hands pressed in prayer, surrounded by golden radiance and floral borders with four small narrative scenes at the corners

Oil painting, close-up devotional portrait of a woman in a dark teal mantle decorated with gold eight-pointed stars, hands clasped in prayer, eyes downcast, wearing a gold crown above radiating golden rays; cross medallion at neckline, embroidered garments visible at center.

Oil painting of a robed figure in white gesturing upward toward a radiant image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the upper right, framed by a painted laurel wreath with red berries and flowers along the border.

Oil painting of a kneeling figure in white and grey robes gesturing toward a tilma displaying the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, held open by two figures; framed by a floral garland with scattered roses below, dark background with red drapery at left.

Oil painting detail showing a winged angel figure with arms raised, supporting richly embroidered garments in deep burgundy and gold above. The angel wears a red robe with a medallion, with orange and cream wings spread wide amid flowers and clouds. A Latin script inscription and date 1691 appear along the lower edge.

Oil painting featuring an oval wreath-framed devotional scene: a radiant crowned figure in blue and gold mantle at upper left, a standing man in white robes accompanied by a child in red, and a cherub below. The oval is surrounded by painted roses, red berries, foliage, and a small bird at the bottom, against a golden-striped background.

Oil painting, detail showing a vision scene within an oval rocky frame: a robed figure kneels holding flowers before a haloed apparition in blue mantle and pink robe standing on a crescent, with a small cityscape below; golden radiating rays and decorative floral sprigs with red berries surround the composition.

Artist or Maker: Antonio de Arellano
Mexico, 1638-1714
Artist or Maker: Manuel de Arellano
Mexico, 1662-1722
Title: Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe)
Date Made: 1691
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 71 7/16 × 48 9/16 in. (181.5 × 123.4 cm); framed: 82 1/4 × 60 1/4 × 3 1/2 in. (208.92 × 153.04 × 8.89 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2009.61
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most reproduced images in the Christian world. This rendition by Antonio de Arellano and his son Manuel de Arellano depicts the Virgin surrounded by four vignettes that narrate her appearances to the Indigenous commoner Juan Diego in 1531 at the Hill of Tepeyac, north of Mexico City. The scenes culminate in the miracle that imprinted her image on his cloak, which he unfolds before Bishop Juan de Zumárraga (r. 1528–47) as proof. According to tradition, the icon imprinted on Juan Diego’s cloak is the one venerated today at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

To meet increasing demand for reputable copies of the Virgin’s titular image, the Mexican artist Juan Correa (c. 1645–1716) produced a waxed-paper template after the original image that enabled painters to accurately reproduce the design. This accounts for the similar dimensions of some paintings (see M.2014.91) despite variations of style and details. The Arellanos added the inscription tocada a la original (“touched to the original”) on the lower edge to emphasize that their copy was endowed with the power of the original relic.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Manuel Herrero Palacios, director of Galería Quixote, Madrid; Galería Coll & Cortés, Madrid, 2009; LACMA, 2009.
Selected Bibliography: Katzew, Ilona, ed. Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books/D.A.P., 2022.
Ilona Katzew, “Acquired Yesterday: Our Lady of Guadalupe,” Unframed, June 25, 2009, https://unframed.lacma.org/2009/06/25/just-acquired-our-lady-of-guadalupe.
Selected Exhibition History: Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World. November 6, 2011 - January 29, 2012
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024

Related Exhibitions

Related Unframed

Antonio de Arellano
Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe)1691

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Antonio de Arellano
Mexico, 1638-1714
Artist or Maker: Manuel de Arellano
Mexico, 1662-1722
Title: Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe)
Date Made: 1691
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 71 7/16 × 48 9/16 in. (181.5 × 123.4 cm); framed: 82 1/4 × 60 1/4 × 3 1/2 in. (208.92 × 153.04 × 8.89 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2009.61
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most reproduced images in the Christian world. This rendition by Antonio de Arellano and his son Manuel de Arellano depicts the Virgin surrounded by four vignettes that narrate her appearances to the Indigenous commoner Juan Diego in 1531 at the Hill of Tepeyac, north of Mexico City. The scenes culminate in the miracle that imprinted her image on his cloak, which he unfolds before Bishop Juan de Zumárraga (r. 1528–47) as proof. According to tradition, the icon imprinted on Juan Diego’s cloak is the one venerated today at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

To meet increasing demand for reputable copies of the Virgin’s titular image, the Mexican artist Juan Correa (c. 1645–1716) produced a waxed-paper template after the original image that enabled painters to accurately reproduce the design. This accounts for the similar dimensions of some paintings (see M.2014.91) despite variations of style and details. The Arellanos added the inscription tocada a la original (“touched to the original”) on the lower edge to emphasize that their copy was endowed with the power of the original relic.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Manuel Herrero Palacios, director of Galería Quixote, Madrid; Galería Coll & Cortés, Madrid, 2009; LACMA, 2009.
Selected Bibliography: Katzew, Ilona, ed. Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books/D.A.P., 2022.
Ilona Katzew, “Acquired Yesterday: Our Lady of Guadalupe,” Unframed, June 25, 2009, https://unframed.lacma.org/2009/06/25/just-acquired-our-lady-of-guadalupe.
Selected Exhibition History: Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World. November 6, 2011 - January 29, 2012
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024