Ex-voto of the Alférez Diego de la Parra

1711

Name(s) currently unknown

Mexico City, MEX, Museo Nacional de Arte (current location)

This painting depicts a miraculous scene that took place in a convent in Querétaro, Mexico in 1711. The image shows not only the key actors, but also the Virgin Mary, who they held responsible for the miracle. In the cartouche in the lower right corner, these events are described.

Seated in the chair is the Alférez of Queretaro, don Diego de la Parra, an administrator responsible for certain financial dealings of the convent of Santa Clara. He is shown having just begun to hemorrhage. As if to emphasize how sick Parra had become in front of the nuns, he appears too weak to even hold his bloodied handkerchief. The nuns of Santa Clara appear behind the grill that divided their world from that of the mundane affairs that transpired outside. Once they entered the convent, they usually spent their whole lives within. They hold the portable image of the Virgin, one of many religious sculptures the convent would have had. As in many Spanish American ex-votos, the inscription explains the action of the painting. It reads: El Alferez Di[e]go de la Parra, Administrador/de el Real Convento de N.M. Sta. Clar/ra de Jesus de Queretaro, en 24 de Septiembre/de 1711 a. estando a Rexa le Sovre/bino Repentiamente, un fluxo de San/gre por la Voca de que Dudaron O/learlo por thenerlo por meurto y,/al Patrosinio de la Virgen SSma, de el/Destierro, que Ynovcaron las Reli/giosas Volvio en si dentro de Dos ho/ quedando Sano. ("The alférez Diego de la Parra, administrator of the royal convent of Santa Clara of Jesus of Querétaro, on September 24th, 1711, was at the [convent] grill and was repeatedly overcome by a flow of blood from his mouth. Believing him to be dead, the nuns doubted he could receive the final sacrament. They prayed to their patroness, Our Lady of Exile, and within two hours his health returned.”)

While the name of the painter is not known today, the style of the image aligns it to other works painted in the early 18th century from Querétaro. A wealthy city north of Mexico City, it had its own vibrant community of artists.

This is an oil painting on canvas, which has been glued to a piece of masonite in modern times. The painting itself measures approximately 101 x 142 cm (40 x 60 inches). The image is an ex-voto, a well-established genre of Spanish American painting that depicts a human, worldly problem and its resolution by a holy figure—usually the Virgin Mary or a saint.

Painted in Querétaro, and probably first hung in that city, this painting was smuggled (illegally) with several other paintings from Querétaro to California in the 20th century. In 1986 it was returned to Mexico and today forms part of the country’s national art collection. It is housed in the Museo Nacional de Artes in Mexico City.

Ex-votos were increasingly popular in 18th century in Mexico, and continued to be so into the 20th century. These paintings, which feature narratives of miraculous cures and visions, describe the daily life of individuals—in this case, a local official and cloistered nuns. Ex-votos such as this one also make clear how important the appearance of the sacred in the daily world was thought to be in Spanish America. In the 18th century in Querétaro, this particular Virgin, Our Lady of Exile, was famed for her curing powers. Her image, which was accompanied by the baby Jesus and Joseph, was adorned by pearls and precious-stone offerings from her devotees. It also left its chapel and made public appearances in religious processions in the city. It was thus a well-known and celebrated icon.

Reproduced courtesy of the Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City

Dana Leibsohn and Barbara E. Mundy.
Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820. http://www.fordham.edu/vistas, 2015.

Cuadriello, Jaime. 1999. Catálogo comentado del acervo del Museo Nacional de Arte. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes.