feather portrait, Mary & Jesus

Banner with the Virgin Mary and Jesus. This is one of the earliest indigenous-authored depictions of the Madonna and child. The banner was demanded by Nuño de Guzmán to carry in his campaign of conquest into Nueva Galicia. The design was made from colored feathers and gold. The orange color of the hair of both the Virgin and Jesus is unusual. Everything yellow would have been covered with gold. The blue surrounding the Virgin is a very rare and special blue. The banner may have measured something like 16 inches square. It is interesting that this is not the representation of the Virgin Mary that was typically carried into battle. The favorite Virgin banner of the early sixteenth century bore the representation of the Virgen de los Remedios. Later, the Virgin of Guadalupe (in her post-1649 guise, which became quintessentially "Mexican" and no longer Spanish) would be carried in insurrections, such as the Independence War and the Revolution of 1910–19. [SW]