Virgen de Monserrate
Unidentified (Puerto Rican)
ca. 1775-1825
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Teodoro Vidal Collection
Accession Number
1996.91.10
Tags
ChristMary
About this artwork
In this devotional painting the Virgin is shown seated with the Christ child in her lap. Behind the figures rise the Monserrate Mountains, near Barcelona, where a Benedictine abbey was built. Monserrate, or “sawed mountain,” refers to the vertical fissures caused by earthquakes in the mountains. Spanish immigrants brought images of the Virgin of Monserrate to Puerto Rico. The most famous miracle credited to her on the island took place near Hormigueros, when the Virgin interceded to save a man f...