Collection of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation

The Virgin and Child sit in a formal garden of terraces, flower-filled urns and trees. The Virgin draws water from a well, while the Christ Child holds a flowering lily branch and gestures towards a falcon and a duckling in the foreground.

The Thoma Foundation interprets these details as a meditation on the Passion: the lily evokes the Virgin’s purity, while the birds and the Child’s gesture introduce the theme of Christ’s willing acceptance of sacrifice.

Current cataloguing
The Thoma Foundation lists this work as Mystical Garden, by an unidentified artist, eighteenth century, oil on canvas, 84 × 63 cm. The painting was previously attributed to Leonardo Flores in the gallery’s records.

Source
Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, Art of the Spanish Americas, collection entry and object essay for Mystical Garden. Essay by Mercedes Isabella Muratalla, edited by Verónica Muñoz-Nájar Luque. Cataloguing checked October 2026.