Collections: European Art

Our Lady of Cocharcas under the Baldachin. Peru, Cuzco school, inscribed 1765. Oil on canvas, 78 1/4 x 56 1/2 in. (198.8 x 143.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Mary T. Cockcroft, by exchange, 57.144

This image shows the statue of Our Lady of Cocharcas, a town high in the Andes whose buildings and inhabits are also depicted. As the Virgin of the Purification, Mary holds a candlestick and bouquet of flowers and olives. Both mother and child wear gold crowns indicating that they are the Queen and Prince of Heaven. The baldachin, or canopy, that covers and protects them is another sign of high status. Two angels hold a banner above the scene that can be translated as "All beautiful is Mary free of original sin," making the image one of the Immaculate Conception as well as the Virgin of the Purification.

The text below reads: "The miraculous image of Our Lady of Cocharcas, the year 1765." The painting may commemorate the festival and dedication in 1623 of the church (seen at the right) built to house the statue. The snow, present all year round in the high Andes, falls gently around the pilgrims as they prepare for the religious procession. These lively figures enact events associated with the statue's miraculous powers. A demon pulls a man over the cliff and a Dominican priest pulls him back by the hair; another priest exorcises a demon, in the shape of a bird, which emerges from the afflicted woman's mouth.