Page 1 - Guadalupe of Mexico in Spain

Exhibition
So far, so close. Guadalupe of Mexico in Spain
Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid6/10/2025 - 9/14/2025

So far, so close: Guadalupe, Mexico, in Spain offers a new perspective on the role of the Virgin of
Guadalupe as a miraculously created image, an object of worship and symbol of identity in the Hispanic
world. Through nearly 70 works, including paintings, prints, sculptures and books, the exhibition shows
how this manifestation of the Virgin, which first appeared on the Cerro del Tepeyac or Tepeyac Hill in
1531, transcended the borders of New Spain to become a powerful presence in the Spanish collective
imagination.

The project, curated by the Mexican professors Jaime Cuadriello (UNAM) and Paula Mues Orts (INAH), is
the result of years of research and collaboration between institutions. The exhibition is structured into
eleven thematic sections, combining small and large-format works that range from the earliest
depictions of apparitions of the Virgin to the sophisticated vera effigies reproduced for devotional or
political purposes.

The exhibition begins with a visual cartography that charts the surprising density of the presence of
images of the Virgin of Guadalupe across all of Spain. This dissemination reflects economic, social and
political factors such as trade with the Indies, mining and the movement of viceregal officials. These

works reflect both devotion and the concerns of communities, artists, merchants, the nobility and the
clergy, who together made the Virgin a shared devotional cult.

Themes covered in the exhibition’s different sections include the transmission of the Guadalupe story
through standardised narrative and visual models; the formal genealogy of the image and its connection
with European Marian icons such as the Immaculate Conception and the Tota pulchra; its status as a
"painting not made by human hand", which relates to the concept of the Deus pictor; and the sacredness
of the Virgin’s mantle, conceived as a living relic and object of veneration. A comparison is also made
with Iberian painting of the same period, revealing stylistic affinities and differences with schools such as

Madrid and Andalusia.

Of particular interest are the sections dedicated to the vera effigies, which are exact copies or modified
versions of the original, reproduced using specialised artistic techniques. Also notable is the presence of
exotic materials, such as mother-of-pearl, ivory and brass, which arrived on the Manila Galleon,
demonstrating the global reach of the cult of Guadalupe and its integration into transoceanic networks of
cultural exchange.

The exhibition includes masterpieces by artists from New Spain and the Iberian Peninsula, including José
Juárez, Juan Correa, Manuel de Arellano, Miguel Cabrera, Velázquez, Zurbarán and Francisco Antonio
Vallejo. Together they trace an artistic and symbolic map of the cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe which

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lasted from the 17 to the early 19 century.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Fundación Casa de México in Spain is collaborating on an
extensive cultural programme that focuses on the symbolic and artistic dimension of the Virgin of
Guadalupe. The programme includes lectures by the curators, a cycle of historical and contemporary
films, informational capsules and workshops on traditional Mexican crafts taught by masters from
Michoacán and Chiapas. These activities, taking place at the Museo del Prado and at the Fundación’s
venue in Madrid, will offer participants a wide-ranging experience that interweaves history, art and living
tradition.

Curators:

Jaime Cuadriello, professor in the Faculty of Arts, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and
researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas de México, and Paula Mues, professor at the
Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía at the Instituto Nacional de Antropología
e Historia de México