Our Lady of Guadalupe

Signed by Antonio Delgado, this painting on copper presents Our Lady of Guadalupe surrounded by four narrative scenes of the apparitions to Juan Diego. The Virgin stands within a radiant mandorla, wearing a rose-coloured tunic and a star-covered blue-green mantle. Floral garlands and gilded rocaille cartouches unite the central devotional image with the surrounding narrative.

The smooth copper support allows finely controlled brushwork, particularly evident in the flowers, ornamental details and small figures. The composition belongs to the eighteenth-century tradition of Guadalupan painting in New Spain, in which fidelity to the sacred prototype coexists with an increasingly elaborate decorative setting. The inscription Non fecit taliter omni nationi expresses the special protection associated with the Virgin of Guadalupe.