The Virgin of the Pilgrims and Child

The Virgin Mary was a popular subject among Cuzco artists. In this depiction of the Virgin of the Pilgrims, both mother and child wear the traveler's broad-brimmed hat (montera), indicating that this was a processional image. The triangular form of the Virgin's spectacular gold-stamped dress alludes to the shape of a mountain, a manifestation of Pachamama, the Andean Earth Mother and symbol of the earth's fertility. Thus, she is not only a Christian symbol, but also a representation of ancestral, Precolumbian beliefs.

Credit: The Arthur and Madeleine Chalette Lejwa Collection, bequeathed by Madeleine Chalette Lejwa, New York, to American Friends of the Israel Museum