Coronation of the Virgin Surrounded by Saints (nun's badge)

Coronation of the Virgin Surrounded by Saints (nun's badge)

18th century
Artist
Andrés López, Mexican
Active Years: 1763-1811
Attributed to
Country
Mexico
Object
Nun's Badge
Medium
Oil paint and gold leaf on copper with a tortoise shell frame
Accession Number
2013.361
Credit Line
Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer

Unknown artist, Coronation of the Virgin Surrounded by Saints (Nun’s Badge), 1700s. Oil paint and gold leaf on copper with a tortoise shell frame; 7¼ in. dia. Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 2013.361.

Dimensions
diameter: 7.25 in, 18.4150 cm
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 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, who are depicted as three identical men. The Virgin is surrounded by a number of male and female saints, among them Sts. John Nepomuk and Gertrude, visible at the bottom holding a crozier and radiant heart. It also rests in a simple tortoiseshell frame surrounding a painted border of gold leaf decorated with cherubs and flowers, strikingly similar to the one seen in 2013.364, which is signed by Andrés López (active 1763-1811), indicating this one may be from the same workshop.

– Donna Pierce, 2015; revised by Kathryn Santner, Frederick and Jan Mayer Fellow of Spanish Colonial Art, 2023

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