Artwork
Virgin of the Rosary of Guápulo
Virgin of the Rosary of Guápulo is an oil painting. It dates from 1750 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The Virgin of the Rosary of Guápulo depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child, a composition classified as a Madonna and Child.
The Virgin of the Rosary of Guápulo depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child, a composition classified as a Madonna and Child. Both figures are shown wearing crowns, signifying their royal status within Christian iconography. Created in 1750 by a Peruvian artist from the Cuzco school, the work belongs to the genre of religious art.
The painting represents the Virgin of the Rosary, a specific devotion where Mary is often associated with the rosary beads, though the visual focus here remains on the crowned mother and child. As an oil painting on canvas, it serves as a devotional object emphasizing the sanctity and authority of the Holy Family.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting executed on canvas, measuring roughly 171 × 111 cm, created in 1750 in the Cuzco region of Peru. Its support is a canvas substrate, typical of mid-eighteenth-century easel painting in the Andean colonial tradition, and the paint layer consists of oil-based pigments applied in thin, layered brushwork to render the figures of the Virgin, the Christ Child, and associated symbolic attributes such as a crown. The composition emphasizes a central Marian presence within a devotional scheme, reflecting the religious art conventions of the period.
The painting is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, though specific conservation details are not recorded.
History & Provenance
The Virgin of the Rosary of Guápulo is a Peruvian painting from Cuzco dated to 1750, executed in oil on canvas. The work, which depicts the Madonna and Child, entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is currently held. The painting measures 170.8 cm in height by 110.5 cm in width.
Beyond these core cataloging details, the available sources do not document the original commissioner, the circumstances of its creation, or the chain of ownership that led from its colonial-era Cuzco origin to its present institutional home.
Overview
This painting, titled Virgin of the Rosary of Guápulo, is an oil on canvas work depicting a central figure of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child. The composition emphasizes their sacred presence through traditional iconography. The artwork's medium and subject align with common religious art practices, likely intended for devotion or display within a sacred space.
Artist & collection
