The Virgin of the Apocalypse

Considered one of the most outstanding neo-Hispanic artists of the mid-XVIIIth century, Miguel Cabrera lived to experience the rallying of the people of New Spain around the cult to the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was to form the cornerstone of national identity.This painting depicts a theme which comes up repeatedly in the art of the Viceregal period: the Virgin of the Apocalypse described in the visions that Saint John set down in Chapter 12 of the Apocalypse. A beautiful woman occupies the center of the work, her body slightly twisted round in order to protect the Christ child from the threatening, six-headed beast. With Her right foot, She tramples one of these heads, signaling the defeat of evil. The coloring on the left side of the painting, where the beast is being defeated by the heavenly hosts led by Saint Michael, is intense. The figure of the archangel, enclosed in an ellipse, expresses dynamism combined with the strength endowed on this divine being so that he may eradicate evil. In the center of the work, crowning the scene, is the Eternal Father who, protectively, opens his arms and touches the Virgin's wings. On the right side of the composition, angels bearing the Marian symbols of purity and wisdom temper the fury of the battle. In the background is Saint John the Evangelist with an eagle, a symbol that always accompanies him, preparing to write down the revelations that God shows to him. From his mouth emerges the inscription Signum magnum a paruit in cielo... Chapter 12, Verse 1 (I saw a sign in the sky...). Another inscription can be seen in the bottom right-hand part of the work, which reads A la Devoción de Don José Reaño y Doña María Olivares, su esposa (To the devotion of Don José Reaño and Doña Maria Olivares, his wife.); this couple sponsored the painting, which was finished in 1760. It is worth pointing out that the author signed the work at the bottom as Michelangelo, since, at this high point in his career, he was considered the Michelangelo of the Americas. The painting hung in the Royal Pontifical University of México, later passing to the San Carlos Academy and, yet later, to the San Diego Viceregal Painting Gallery. It entered the MUNAL in the year 2000.