Our Lady of Solitude

This oil painting represents the sculpture of Our Lady of Solitude from the Convent of the Padres de la Victoria in Madrid, Spain. This effigy is, in turn, a copy of a painting commissioned by Queen Elisabeth of Valois, the third wife of Philip II. 

The original image captivated a monk from the Victoria Convent, who would have entrusted the Countess of Ureña, a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, with the task of requesting the image for the monastery. Elisabeth refused but allowed a sculpted copy of the image to be made. 

As the story goes, Gaspar Becerra, the sculptor in charge of crafting the piece, couldn’t carve either the head or the hands until a voice instructed him that these parts should be formed with one of the burning logs found in the workshop’s fireplace. 

The miraculous story promoted the worship of the image and its dissemination in the American territories of the Spanish Crown through engravings and paintings. 

In this Marian invocation, the pain and solitude that the Virgin felt after the death of her son on the cross are conveyed. This desolation is embodied in the low and sorrowful gaze of the grieving mother. 

At the bottom of the painting, the crown of thorns and the Nails of Christ stand out. The reference to the Passion is completed with red flowers representing the blood shed by Jesus. 

The image of the Virgin is framed by two red curtains, indicating that this painting is a copy of a sculpture that, in its original location, must have been surrounded by these elements. 

The Virgin’s garments emphasize the mourning associated with the image. The headdress, the white veil, and the black cloak, which in this case is covered in stars, are part of the attire worn by Castilian widows to show their grief. 

This type of images was essential for the iconographic program promoted after the Council of Trent (1545-1563), both to exalt the devotion to the Virgin and to transmit the suffering associated with the Passion of Christ.