Page 12 - Guadalupe of Mexico in Spain

Section 10. The glorification of the vera effigies

Virgin of Guadalupe with the Five Apparitions and the Archangels Michael and Gabriel
Attributed to Juan Correa (c. 1646-1716)
Oil on canvas
c. 1700-16

Villalón de Campos (Valladolid), parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel
The copies of La Guadalupana were exact or scale portraits of the Holy Original, emphasising its
supernatural origin and transmitting its sacred immanence. Included in the margins were four cartouches
that related and disseminated the story of its apparition and legitimised its consideration as a non
manufacta work, meaning it had not been made by human hands. These allegorical works had a
celebratory function expressed in the floral garlands, the symbols of the litanies of Loreto, the angelic
choirs and the traceries, all elements expressive of praise and honour, as well as in the inscriptions,
which include the official motto of La Guadalupana, taken from Psalm 147: “He hath not dealt so with
any nation.” At the foot, there was generally a view of the Virgin’s shrine, a place of pilgrimage, cleansing,

cure and prayer, or else a fifth apparition, the healing of Juan Diego’s uncle, Juan Bernardino. Each of
these elements had its correspondence in the canticles and music performed in the choir and during
matins.