Our Lady of Valvanera

Our Lady of Valvanera is a Marian catholic title from La Rioja province, in Spain, whose cult was transferred to America at the hands of Spaniards religious and devotees on their trip to this continent.

The devotion to this image began in the first century of the Christian era. At that time, the Muslims occupied Navarre. All the Christians decided to flee, except for old Arturo, a devotee of the Virgin, who hid the image inside a trunk.

Later, the valley was populated with wrongdoers; the most terrible: Nuño Oñez.

However, after robbing a peasant, Oñez, dejected by guilt, converted to Christianity and became a hermit. Increased his virtue, an angel appeared to him.

The angel entrusted Oñez to look for the Marian image, a scene that we see on the left of the painting: dressed in a red tunic, the angel raises his right arm in front of Oñez, who listens to him with praying hands and a rosary hanging around his neck.

The hermit had to look for a tree with a water spring at its base and a bee-hive in its center. Once he found them, the bark opened, and appeared the image whose representation is seen in the center of the composition.

Both the Virgin and the Child sitting on her lap, are dressed in rich robes and royal crowns. The Child holds a book and blesses the hermit, while Mary carries a heart from which sprouts a branch of lilies, symbol of purity.

The bees, insects also present in the legend of this Marian catholic title, are shown fluttering inside the trunk, surrounding the Virgin head. For Christianity, these insects are associated with the announcement of Christ resurrection.

Flora and fauna play a leading role in the image, as they are symbols of virtues and transmit to the worshipper the salvation message Christianity sought to spread. This is reinforced by the border decorated with flowers that surround the Virgin.