.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Born in Peru in 1586, from an early age Isabel Flores de Oliva, “Rosa” as she was nicknamed, proved herself as a faithful and devoted servant to the Lord. As a young girl, Rosa prayed and fasted daily, and performed severe penances in secrecy. Dismayed by her budding beauty that attracted the attention of many suitors, Rosa cut her hair short and marred her face; rejecting marriage and instead taking a vow of chastity, she lived much of her adolescence secluded in her room in daily prayer. As a young adult, she devoted herself to the Third Order of St. Dominic and it was at this time that she took to wearing a heavy silver crown with spikes on the inside that at times pierced her flesh, resembling the Crown of Thorns. Upon Rosa’s death at the age of 31—a death that she purportedly predicted—the Bishop of Lima, praised her great virtues and exemplary life as a model for all Christians.
The present work depicts a passage from the Apocrypha, in which the Virgin and Child appeared to Santa Rosa at the Chapel of the Rosary in the Convent of Saint Dominic in Lima. Here, Christ and the saint are pictured in a tender moment of mutual devotion, Christ asking for the saint’s hand in holy matrimony. Roses adorn the scene, while the saint holds a bouquet of lilies, a symbol of her purity. Despite never having formally joined a convent, Santa Rosa is often pictured wearing a nun’s habit. In the present painting, executed in colonial Peru, the holy woman wears the habits of her order, as testament to her faith. Both saint and Christ child’s robes are adorned with additional delicate embellishments of gold brocading throughout, placing this work within the Cuzco school tradition of painting.
The parallels between this scene and other Marian devotional images depicting the Virgin and Child are precise; regarded among the Catholic saints as a paradigm of religious devotion, and as the first native saint of the Americas to be canonized by the Church, she is extolled at a level that rivals none but the Virgin Mary herself. Santa Rosa was so widely venerated throughout Spain’s territories that she was named the Patron Saint of Peru, South America, and the Philippines, even before her canonization in 1671.
The present work depicts a passage from the Apocrypha, in which the Virgin and Child appeared to Santa Rosa at the Chapel of the Rosary in the Convent of Saint Dominic in Lima. Here, Christ and the saint are pictured in a tender moment of mutual devotion, Christ asking for the saint’s hand in holy matrimony. Roses adorn the scene, while the saint holds a bouquet of lilies, a symbol of her purity. Despite never having formally joined a convent, Santa Rosa is often pictured wearing a nun’s habit. In the present painting, executed in colonial Peru, the holy woman wears the habits of her order, as testament to her faith. Both saint and Christ child’s robes are adorned with additional delicate embellishments of gold brocading throughout, placing this work within the Cuzco school tradition of painting.
The parallels between this scene and other Marian devotional images depicting the Virgin and Child are precise; regarded among the Catholic saints as a paradigm of religious devotion, and as the first native saint of the Americas to be canonized by the Church, she is extolled at a level that rivals none but the Virgin Mary herself. Santa Rosa was so widely venerated throughout Spain’s territories that she was named the Patron Saint of Peru, South America, and the Philippines, even before her canonization in 1671.