Mexican Viceroyal School (circa 1780) - Our Lady Of Light Of León

Oil on metal plate. Traces of wax seals or reliquaries on the reverse. This work adheres strictly to the iconography promoted by the Jesuit Juan Antonio Genovesi in Palermo from 1722 onward. Its mystical origin lies in a vision revealed to a blessed woman to establish the definitive representation of the devotion. This devotion was introduced to Mexico by José María Genovesi, and the image was transferred to León in 1732. The composition in the Museum faithfully translates this vision: Mary, dressed in white and blue, holds the Infant Jesus, who is removing a burning heart from an angelic basket; simultaneously, the Virgin saves a soul from the clutches of Leviathan, under the gaze of the angels who crown her. From an analytical point of view, the work presents a singular complexity due to the coexistence of disparate stylistic characteristics, which make its chronology difficult. While the brushwork reveals the rigidity and schematic style typical of a self-taught artist, the anatomical treatment of the saved soul demonstrates an unusual naturalism, closer to academic or 19th-century canons. This divergence between the popular style of the composition and the sophistication of the nude establishes a historical dichotomy: could this be a 19th-century painter rooted in the Baroque tradition and influenced by modernity, or a late 18th-century master whose treatment of the figure already foreshadows the transition to academicism? - Image dimensions without frame: 23.5 x 35 cm / 33.5 x 44.5 cm with custom-made antique frame.