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

Not on view

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 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
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. 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. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024

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