The Eternal Father Painting the Virgin of Guadalupe

The painter divides his composition into an upper and a lower parts. At the top, a celestial scene, known at the time as a "heavenly workshop" is shown, wherein the Eternal Father is putting the final touches to the piece of coarse cloth, held by three angels and an eagle, that bears the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, while His seated Son looks on and the Holy Ghost, hovering above them in the form of a dove, bathes the scene in light. The second part of the composition depicts the earthly regions, where Juan Diego is offering God the Father a palette brimming with roses, from which the Creator, in His role of heavenly painter, takes His colors. The fact that the first account of the apparitions of the Virgin, written in Náhuatl and known as Nican Mopohua, gives no details about how the image was imprinted on the maguey-fiber cloth gave rise to one of the most disquieting debates ever to take place in the neo-Hispanic world, regarding the possibility that the paints used to execute the said image were created by a heavenly being. Initially, the miracle was attributed to solar causes and, later, to the Archangel Michael, but, in the late XVIIth century, as shown in this painting, their production was attributed to God the Father. This argument was based on the idea of the inclusion of the indigenous races in the universal plan for salvation, and on the old tradition of the heavenly workshop, according to which Saint Luke painted the portrait of the Virgin. This idea was seized on by the painters' guild, who saw in it a chance to uplift their trade, which they were endeavoring to position among the noble arts. Given their daring nature, these scenes were produced only among a small circle of artists and ceased to be turned out in the early XIXth century. This work was donated to the MUNAL by the National Fund for Culture and the Arts in 1991.