A Tale of Two Virgins

I was recently commissioned by an acquaintance/friend of mine to paint my version of the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe). I was pretty excited about it because a) I've been to Mexico a handful of times and love all the kitschy, colorful art and religious imagery in abundance there, and b) it meant delving a little deeper into the history and meaning behind the image (even if it meant only using Google as my main source of information). Knowing your subject matter makes it a lot easier to be subversive when needed :)

In the end, I decided to paint two slightly different versions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, knowing full well I’d probably want to keep one for myself.

One of the more interesting bits of information of the story about Our Lady of Guadalupe is how the Aztecs adopted this dark-skinned version of the Catholic image of the virgin Mary as their own. This happened after the Spanish Conquest in 1521. I suppose such is what happens when you are coerced into believing in a new religion and set of beliefs that are much different from your own. I’m only guessing that Catholicism was made more palatable for the Aztec people with an Aztec  “Mary,” including a story to go along with it about her first appearances and performance of miracles to prove her existence. I’m no historian about Mexico and the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and these are just my opinions and observations.

As for the two paintings, I’m going to let the one on the receiving end decide which one he prefers. And the other will be for me!