Dormancy of the Virgin

For Colonial painters it was more important to transmit the divine message of religious stories than to show the world just as we know it. This Dormancy of the Virgin clearly illustrates this disinterest for the immediate reality. Its author –probably a native Cusco master– didn’t concern himself with architectural details: the room in which the Virgin appears seems to lack walls or ceilings. In the left-hand space the scene takes place probably in a closed area that suddenly opens up, without transition, to a perfect landscape, influenced by Flemish painting. The apostle to the right appears to be in both spaces simultaneously: his head is in the area where the Virgin’s bed appears while his long red robe spreads into the landscape space.