Coronation of the Virgin with Saints Anne and Joachim (nun's badge)
- unknown artist
Unknown artist, Coronation of the Virgin with Saints Anne and Joachim (Nun’s Badge), 1700s. Oil paint on copper with a tortoise shell frame; 4 in. dia. Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 2013.359.
Nun’s badges (escudos) are unique to Mexico. Invented there in the 1600s, they were worn at the throat by Conceptionist and Hieronymite nuns over the habits of their respective orders. Depicting 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. This example shows the Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity. Mary is flanked by her parents, Saints Anne and Joachim. It rests in a simple tortoiseshell frame with notches on the inner side.
– Donna Pierce, 2015; revised by Kathryn Santner, Frederick and Jan Mayer Fellow of Spanish Colonial Art, 2023
- "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