Novo-Hispanic school; second half of the 18th century.

Novo-Hispanic school; second half of the eighteenth century.
"Pectoral of nun with Immaculate".
Oil on copper.
Measurements: 20 cm (diameter).
In New Spain, the pectoral reached a remarkable artistic development during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They were commissioned to specialized painters and, sometimes, enriched with filigree frames, rhinestones or enamels. The small format favored a painting of precise strokes and saturated colors, suitable for close contemplation. Likewise, these objects reflect the close relationship between art, religiosity and daily life in the female conventual world, where the image not only instructed and moved, but also physically accompanied the nun as a visible sign of her consecration.
The work catalogued here, due to its technical refinement, its balanced composition and the devotional intensity it conveys, constitutes an eloquent testimony of the visual culture of 18th century New Spain, in which the exaltation of the Immaculate Conception occupied a central place both in theology and in the collective sensibility.
It represents the Immaculate Conception surrounded by saints and angels, according to an iconography fully consolidated in the Hispanic-American territories. Executed in oil on copper, the painting stands out for its technical meticulousness, the brilliance of the blues and golds and the delicacy in the representation of the faces. The Virgin appears in the center of the composition, standing on the crescent moon and the globe, with her hands together in prayerful attitude. She wears a white tunic and a starry blue mantle, symbols of purity and divine election. In the upper zone, angels carry Marian attributes, such as the crown, reinforcing her condition of Queen of Heaven. Around her are arranged saints of special significance for conventual and Franciscan spirituality, creating a choral scene that underlines the triumphal dimension of the conceptionist dogma, deeply rooted in New Spain even before its official proclamation in the 19th century.
This type of painting was intended to be integrated into a nun's pectoral, a distinctive piece of ceremonial attire for professed nuns in New Spain's female convents. The pectoral, generally oval or circular in shape and protected by glass, was worn pinned to the chest over the habit, especially in solemn ceremonies such as profession, Marian festivities or convent portraits.