A Voyage to South America: Andean Art in the Spanish Empire

      The Chicago Art Institute is displaying an exhibited entitled “A Voyage to South America: Andean Art in the Spanish Empire”. In this never before seen exhibit are given visitors a chance to explorer art works of the artists and patrons who lived in this Spanish-governed Andes through 17^th and 19^th centuries.  This collection of art depicts the painting “Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquira with Female Donor”. This painting was created for a Spanish colonist, who wanted the painting for his own private chapel. Later the Spanish colonist transformed his chapel into a barn, and the image was seriously damaged by rain and sun light. The image was repainted years later by an unidentified artist, active in Cuzco, Peru. I think this artist was proud of his work and could have been poor and painted this picture to get money to take care of his or her family.

The painting, “Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquira with Female Donor”, shows the Virgin Mary standing with a glowing halo floating around her. In the painting, you see the Virgin Mary is covered with a white veil over her hair. Next, you will notice the Virgin Mary staring down at baby Jesus while holding a rosary in between her fingers. When looking to her right, you will notice a figure of Saint Anthony of Padua, holding a flower in one hand and a little angel on a pillow. Also, over on the Virgin Mary left you have Saint Andrew holding a bible in one hand and a cross in the other hand and a glowing halo. Within the painting you see beautiful colorful flower, singing birds, and what look like moving trees. Finally, you see a woman standing off to the far left of Saint Andrew praying and looking very much out of place.

The praying woman has on a fancy-looking black dress, with a heavy laced cuffs around the neck and sleeves of her dress. The lady in black has fancy jewelry on, such as a white pearl bracelet, earrings, and necklaces. The lady looked to be praying to the Virgin Mary about something that could be worrying her.  This painting looked to be a non-realism painting. If you look at all the people in the picture, their faces seem to have funny shapes, more round then oval, and their necks look pudgy. In the painting everyone seem to have toes and fingers that are resemble to look more shaped then most painting. When looking at the lady in black, one sees lines in her finger and a 3D shadow in the background.

I tried comparing a painting from the next gallery, but the closes painting I come across was “El Greco the Assumption of the Virgin”. It was the first major Spanish commissioned painting of the church. El Grecos painting resembles “Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinqura with Female Donor”.   In El Greco you have the Virgin Mary look as if she’s being pulled to Heaven.  There you have a circle of saints turning toward each other looking in amazement and confusion. Above, you have angels expressing their joy. Although both painting has some important values in the Spanish Catholic Church the painting has similar shapes and lighting in the painting. Mary is there standing in the middle with saints on both side. You see Mary s flying on a half moon. There you have the sun rising over the cloud and down under you have what look like a coffin of Mary soul rising from the ground looking down upon the people. In conclusion, both painting has the Virgin Mary looking to be at peace.