Allegory of the Virgin Patroness of the Dominicans

The production of the Oaxaca-born painter, Miguel Cabrera, includes various works depicting the Virgin as protector of the different religious orders that coexisted in New Spain. In the mid XVIIIth century, Fray Vicente Castrejón, vicar of the community of Tenango, commissioned Cabrera to produce the present work for the Holy Order of the Virgin of the Rosary. The founder of this order, Saint Dominic, is seen kneeling in the right-hand foreground, wearing his rosary' and a black and white habit. On the left: is Jesús, whose robe possesses an airy mobility that suggests that he has descended from heaven to give a message to Saint Dominic, and who directs the viewer's gaze towards His mother in the upper part of the composition. The Virgin plays a dominant role in the composition, being the center of attention. Her robe held by two cherubs, She shelters five Dominican nuns on her right, and three friars and Castrejón himself, along with another man, on Her left. The subject is associated with a vision that appeared to the saint in which the Virgin Mary spread out Her robe to protect his order. This work responded to the need of the Dominican order in the Tenango convent to reassert itself after a process of secularization that had threatened its very existence. It entered the MUNAL in the year 2000. Falero Ruiz, Cora. Guide, National Museum of Art.