Virgin of Apocalypse Surrounded by Saints (nun's badge)

Virgin of Apocalypse Surrounded by Saints (nun's badge)

Artist
Andrés López, Mexican
Active Years: 1763-1811
Country
Mexico
Object
Nun's Badge
Medium
Oil paint and gold leaf on copper with a tortoise shell frame
Accession Number
2013.364
Credit Line
Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer

Andrés López, Virgin of Apocalypse Surrounded by Saints (Nun's Badge), 1700s. Oil paint and gold leaf on copper with a tortoise shell frame; 8¼ in. dia. Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 2013.364.

Dimensions
diameter: 8 1/4 in, 20.9550 cm; depth: 3/8 in, 0.9525 cm
Inscription
Signed bottom center
Department
Mayer Center, Latin American Art
Collection
Latin American Art
This object is currently on view

Nun’s badges (escudos) are unique to Mexico. Invented there in the seventeenth century, they were worn at the throat by Conceptionist and Jeronymite nuns over the habits of their respective orders. Representing images of the Virgin and saints significant to the order and/or the individual nun, they were usually painted on round or oval sheets of copper and framed in tortoiseshell or wood. Many of the most famous artists in Mexico painted nun’s badges and some are signed by the artists. This piece is signed by Andrés López.
--Donna Pierce, 2015

Known Provenance
Gifted 25 November 2013 by the Frederick and Jan Mayer Collection of Denver, CO, to the Denver Art Museum. Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.
Exhibition History
  • "Heaven and Earth: The Jan and Frederick Mayer Collection of Spanish Colonial Art from the Denver Art Museum, Jun 16-Oct 8, 2006, Museo de las Americas, Denver
  • "From Viceregal to Verancular: Painting in Colonial Mexico and New Mexico," Nov 17, 2006-Apr 29, 2007, Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Santa Fe