Spanish or viceroyal Mexican school, 18th century.

Spanish or viceroyal Mexican school, 18th century.
"Virgin of the milk".
Oil on canvas.
Reenteldo.
Measurements: 37 x 30 cm, 53 x 46 cm (frame).

This canvas, of Spanish or viceroyal Mexican invoice, represents the Virgin in maternal attitude, crowned and holding the child in her hands. With her wide starry blue mantle she covers the Child.

It is worth mentioning that, during the Spanish colonial domination, a mainly religious painting was developed, destined to Christianize the indigenous peoples. The local painters were modeled on Spanish works, which they followed literally in terms of types and iconography. The most frequent models were the harquebusier angels and the triangular virgins, however, in the first years of the 19th century, already in times of independence and political opening of some of the colonies, several artists began to represent a new model of painting with its own identity.

In this canvas the painter offers us a tender and intimate image of the Virgin and Child, within the iconography of the Virgin of the Milk, which has a long tradition in the history of art. Although in the baroque period this theme begins to disappear, it fits fully with the interest of the artists of the time to depict Jesus in his most human facet, as well as the Virgin. Here even disappears any allusion to the future sacrifice, which often appears with the presence of fruits or red flowers. In any case, the only veiled image of the Passion would be Mary's red tunic. However, the religiousness of the scene is achieved in this case by the masterful handling of chiaroscuro, which models the features, softens them, and gives the infant body a soft grace. Even the gesture, the languor of the small body, conveys the silent enjoyment of breastfeeding. The mother bows her head and her rounded features are illuminated by the infant's joy. The painter's stylistic models are to be found in the Italian school of the 17th century, the Caravaggist naturalism being softened by a sensual idealization of Venetian influence.