Mexican Viceroyal School (18th Century) - Saint Raphael The Archangel

Oil on canvas. Lined canvas. In the vast panorama of evangelization and religious life in Spanish colonial America, the figure of the archangels enjoyed a unique preeminence, transcending their celestial role to become a pillar of religious syncretism. These "divine warriors" offered indigenous and mestizo populations a powerful parallel with their own tutelary deities and warrior figures, thus facilitating a syncretic cult that was tolerated, and sometimes even encouraged, as a means of indoctrination. In this context of cultural and religious exchange, their attributes became laden with multiple meanings, a phenomenon that ranged from popular devotion to practices bordering on heterodoxy. This exquisite example, from the Mexican school, presents Saint Raphael the Archangel adorned with meticulously elaborate symbolism. The fish, his canonical attribute, directly alludes to the Book of Tobit and prophetic healing; However, he is accompanied by the pomegranate, a clear emblem of the Resurrection and eternal life. With particular eloquence, the archangel also carries a corn tortilla, a cultural borrowing that elevates this indigenous staple to the status of a metaphor for the eternal nourishment of the Eucharist, thus uniting the Christian sacred with the earthly sustenance of the Americas. In the tradition of refined Spanish portraits of the late 17th century, the figure is placed on an elaborately designed oval base, lending the image a courtly and Baroque dignity. - Image dimensions without frame: 56 x 75 cm / 71 x 91 cm with a custom-made, handcrafted, Baroque-inspired gilt frame.