The Trinities of Earth and Sky

The central figure in this composition is the infant Jesus, who is holding Veronica's veil. The other four characters, whose faces are almost identical, are as follows: at me top, God the Father and God the Holy Gost, recognizable by their respective attributes (i.e. the sun and [he dove on their chests), and, at the bottom, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. Despite the restrictions that arose with regard to representing the Trinity as three persons with the same face, known as the "anthropomorphic trinity", this personification spread all over New Spain, above all at the end of the XVIIIth century. In the present plate, anthropomorphic trinity has been modified to include God the Son as a little child, linking the worship of the Trinity with that of the Holy Family, known as the "earthly trinity”. Hence, the painter has endowed Joseph and Mary with the same features as those of the holy personages. The depiction of the two trinities, both anthropomorphic and earthly, was common in neo-Hispanic painting from the end of the XVIlIth century on, with the heavenly trinity being deemed the protector of the earthly one and the two natures of Christ, divine and human, being shown. Veronica's veil is a piece of cloth with the imprint of Christ's face on it, left there when a woman used it to comfort Him by wiping His face on His way to Calvary. Thus, in the hands of the infant Jesus, it becomes a premonition of His future passion, rounding out the symbolism of this work by reasserting Christ's dual nature and the purpose of His incarnation, which is salvation. This work passed to the MUNAL from me San Diego Viceregal Painting Gallery in the year 2000.