Unidentified sculptor and polychromer
Dressing Image of the Virgin of Mercy or “The Pilgrim of Quito” (Imagen vestidera de la Virgen de la Merced o “Peregrina de Quito”)circa 1700-1750

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Picturing the Divine in Spanish America

Polychrome wood sculpture of a seated woman in a gold brocade gown holding a nude infant on her lap, both with rosy painted complexions, mounted on a gilt and burgundy throne chair

Polychrome wood sculpture of a seated woman on a gilded throne chair, wearing an elaborately painted golden gown with floral patterns and a red heraldic shield at the chest; a small child figure with raised hand sits on her left knee, against a black background.

Polychrome wood sculpture viewed from behind, a seated figure with gilded wavy hair on a wooden throne with gilt finials, wearing a cream and gold brocade robe with floral details; a small dark-skinned infant figure with a spherical object perches at the right armrest.

Artist or Maker: Unidentified sculptor and polychromer
Title: Dressing Image of the Virgin of Mercy or “The Pilgrim of Quito” (Imagen vestidera de la Virgen de la Merced o “Peregrina de Quito”)
Place Made: Quito
Date Made: circa 1700-1750
Medium: Polychromed and gilded wood, iron, and glass
Dimensions: 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)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2022.12a-e
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: The original Virgin of Mercy sculpture, also called the “Pilgrim of Quito,” was a miracle-working statue venerated in the city of Quito in Ecuador. After a devastating earthquake in 1698, friars from the Mercedarian order took her on a thirty-year alms-gathering mission across Spanish America and Spain. Although many paintings of the sculpture exist, three-dimensional copies such as this imagen vestidera (a sculpture designed to be adorned with clothing and jewels) remain rare. The wood bodies of such works were typically left plain. This example, however, is lavishly painted with brocateado (gilded patterns in imitation of fine brocades) and the emblem of the Mercedarian order on the Virgin’s chest. The figure’s smooth and youthful features, rosy cheeks, lifelike eyes made of glass, pursed red lips, and plump, shiny flesh (encarnaciones) are characteristic of Quitenian sculpture.

The tradition of polychrome sculpture originated in Europe (the region of Andalusia in Spain was a main production center), but some of the finest practitioners were in Quito (the seat of the Audiencia de Quito, in the Viceroyalty of Peru). Although the names of a few sculptors have been documented—most notably Bernardo de Legarda (c. 1700–1773) and Manuel Chilí (more widely known as Caspicara, c. 1723–1796)—most artists remain unidentified. The profession was largely dominated by Indigenous and mestizo artists within the framework of family-run workshops and involved the participation of different artists—carvers, polychromers, and silversmiths.

Ilona Katzew

2024
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.
Selected Bibliography: Ilona Katzew, “A Rare Sculpture of “The Pilgrim of Quito”,” Unframed, June 12, 2022, https://unframed.lacma.org/2022/06/12/rare-sculpture-pilgrim-quito.
Selected Exhibition History: 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

Unidentified sculptor and polychromer
Dressing Image of the Virgin of Mercy or “The Pilgrim of Quito” (Imagen vestidera de la Virgen de la Merced o “Peregrina de Quito”)circa 1700-1750

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Picturing the Divine in Spanish America

Artist or Maker: Unidentified sculptor and polychromer
Title: Dressing Image of the Virgin of Mercy or “The Pilgrim of Quito” (Imagen vestidera de la Virgen de la Merced o “Peregrina de Quito”)
Place Made: Quito
Date Made: circa 1700-1750
Medium: Polychromed and gilded wood, iron, and glass
Dimensions: 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)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2022.12a-e
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: The original Virgin of Mercy sculpture, also called the “Pilgrim of Quito,” was a miracle-working statue venerated in the city of Quito in Ecuador. After a devastating earthquake in 1698, friars from the Mercedarian order took her on a thirty-year alms-gathering mission across Spanish America and Spain. Although many paintings of the sculpture exist, three-dimensional copies such as this imagen vestidera (a sculpture designed to be adorned with clothing and jewels) remain rare. The wood bodies of such works were typically left plain. This example, however, is lavishly painted with brocateado (gilded patterns in imitation of fine brocades) and the emblem of the Mercedarian order on the Virgin’s chest. The figure’s smooth and youthful features, rosy cheeks, lifelike eyes made of glass, pursed red lips, and plump, shiny flesh (encarnaciones) are characteristic of Quitenian sculpture.

The tradition of polychrome sculpture originated in Europe (the region of Andalusia in Spain was a main production center), but some of the finest practitioners were in Quito (the seat of the Audiencia de Quito, in the Viceroyalty of Peru). Although the names of a few sculptors have been documented—most notably Bernardo de Legarda (c. 1700–1773) and Manuel Chilí (more widely known as Caspicara, c. 1723–1796)—most artists remain unidentified. The profession was largely dominated by Indigenous and mestizo artists within the framework of family-run workshops and involved the participation of different artists—carvers, polychromers, and silversmiths.

Ilona Katzew

2024
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.
Selected Bibliography: Ilona Katzew, “A Rare Sculpture of “The Pilgrim of Quito”,” Unframed, June 12, 2022, https://unframed.lacma.org/2022/06/12/rare-sculpture-pilgrim-quito.
Selected Exhibition History: 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