The Virgin of Carmel/Holy Family
with Saints Gertrude and Teresa of Ávila
Peruvian painter
18th Century
Oil on canvas
Height 72" Width 51" including frame.
Provenance: California private collection
This painting takes some liberties with more strict and sober depictions of the subject matter.
The Virgin of Carmel stands with the scapular in her proper right hand as her parents St. Joseph and St. Anne open the Virgin’s cape to shelter the two saints below.
The Christ Child in the Virgin’s arms passes the brown scapular (a symbol for prayer in the Carmelite confraternity) to His grandmother St. Anne in an intimate and familial gesture.
The Blessed Virgin of Carmel has promised to save those who wear the scapular from the fires of hell, also to shorten their stay in purgatory if they should pass from this world still owing some penance.
Saints Gertrude (holding a heart with the image of the Child Jesus) and Teresa of Ávila (to the right, holding a flaming heart) are depicted as delicate young things, rather than Mother-elders.
Gertrude of Helfta’s’s writings were warmly received in Spain; Teresa of Ávila (Teresa de Jesús) chose Gertrude as her model, and the two are often paired in paintings. Their feast days are celebrated with great pomp in Peru, and in New Mexico a town was built in Gertrude’s honor.
Many of the details in the painting serve to heighten the air of celebration and peaceful benevolence: Gertrude wears a crown of flowers, Joseph holds his flowering staff, and the Virgin Mary is wearing a strand of pearls, an elaborately gilded brown Carmelite gown, and is being crowned by angels.
The overall effect is one of plenitude and youth rather than asceticism and sacrifice, making Catholicism more attractive to a new audience of converts among the Peruvian Indians.
with Saints Gertrude and Teresa of Ávila
Peruvian painter
18th Century
Oil on canvas
Height 72" Width 51" including frame.
Provenance: California private collection
This painting takes some liberties with more strict and sober depictions of the subject matter.
The Virgin of Carmel stands with the scapular in her proper right hand as her parents St. Joseph and St. Anne open the Virgin’s cape to shelter the two saints below.
The Christ Child in the Virgin’s arms passes the brown scapular (a symbol for prayer in the Carmelite confraternity) to His grandmother St. Anne in an intimate and familial gesture.
The Blessed Virgin of Carmel has promised to save those who wear the scapular from the fires of hell, also to shorten their stay in purgatory if they should pass from this world still owing some penance.
Saints Gertrude (holding a heart with the image of the Child Jesus) and Teresa of Ávila (to the right, holding a flaming heart) are depicted as delicate young things, rather than Mother-elders.
Gertrude of Helfta’s’s writings were warmly received in Spain; Teresa of Ávila (Teresa de Jesús) chose Gertrude as her model, and the two are often paired in paintings. Their feast days are celebrated with great pomp in Peru, and in New Mexico a town was built in Gertrude’s honor.
Many of the details in the painting serve to heighten the air of celebration and peaceful benevolence: Gertrude wears a crown of flowers, Joseph holds his flowering staff, and the Virgin Mary is wearing a strand of pearls, an elaborately gilded brown Carmelite gown, and is being crowned by angels.
The overall effect is one of plenitude and youth rather than asceticism and sacrifice, making Catholicism more attractive to a new audience of converts among the Peruvian Indians.
with Saints Gertrude and Teresa of Ávila
Peruvian painter
18th Century
Oil on canvas
Height 72" Width 51" including frame.
Provenance: California private collection
This painting takes some liberties with more strict and sober depictions of the subject matter.
The Virgin of Carmel stands with the scapular in her proper right hand as her parents St. Joseph and St. Anne open the Virgin’s cape to shelter the two saints below.
The Christ Child in the Virgin’s arms passes the brown scapular (a symbol for prayer in the Carmelite confraternity) to His grandmother St. Anne in an intimate and familial gesture.
The Blessed Virgin of Carmel has promised to save those who wear the scapular from the fires of hell, also to shorten their stay in purgatory if they should pass from this world still owing some penance.
Saints Gertrude (holding a heart with the image of the Child Jesus) and Teresa of Ávila (to the right, holding a flaming heart) are depicted as delicate young things, rather than Mother-elders.
Gertrude of Helfta’s’s writings were warmly received in Spain; Teresa of Ávila (Teresa de Jesús) chose Gertrude as her model, and the two are often paired in paintings. Their feast days are celebrated with great pomp in Peru, and in New Mexico a town was built in Gertrude’s honor.
Many of the details in the painting serve to heighten the air of celebration and peaceful benevolence: Gertrude wears a crown of flowers, Joseph holds his flowering staff, and the Virgin Mary is wearing a strand of pearls, an elaborately gilded brown Carmelite gown, and is being crowned by angels.
The overall effect is one of plenitude and youth rather than asceticism and sacrifice, making Catholicism more attractive to a new audience of converts among the Peruvian Indians.