Large Religious Portrait Painting Of Maria Dolores, Mounted Under Glass, Spanish Folk Art

Large 19th-century piece mounted under glass – Maria de los Dolores – Our Lady of Sorrows – Hispanic religious folk art – 55 x 44 cm

A highly decorative 19th-century religious piece mounted under glass depicting Maria de los Dolores, Our Lady of Sorrows.

The Virgin is placed at the center of the composition, behind the dead Christ lying in the foreground. Two kneeling angels frame the scene, in an attitude of prayer and contemplation. In the background rises the cross bearing the inscription I.N.R.I., accompanied by candlesticks, foliage, stylized flowers, and rich silver and gold decoration on a black background.

The Virgin holds to her chest a heart pierced by swords, the central motif of the devotion to Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. This iconography evokes Mary’s sorrows associated with the Passion of Christ: Simeon’s prophecy, the flight into Egypt, the loss of Jesus in the Temple, the encounter on the road to Calvary, the Crucifixion, the Descent from the Cross, and the Entombment.

The lower cartouche bears the inscription “MARIA DE LOS DOLORES.” The composition takes the form of a small domestic altar, with side columns, candelabra, and floral decoration. The contrast between the black background, silvery whites, golds, and flesh tones gives the piece a very strong visual impact.

This mounted piece is the counterpart to another mounted piece under glass depicting San Rafael, also available separately.

This mounted piece belongs to the tradition of 19th-century Hispanic religious folk art from Spain or Latin America. The image combines the Pietà, the Lamentation of Christ, and devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows. The Virgin stands facing the viewer, silent and solemn, her heart pierced by swords. The dead Christ, lying in the foreground, gives the scene its poignant and mournful focus.

The setting transforms the sacred scene into a theater of devotion: columns, candlesticks, flowers, silver foliage, a central cross, and kneeling angels compose a rich liturgical image, intended for domestic prayer as much as for decoration.

This iconography can be poetically linked to the theme of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, which finds a literary echo in Guillaume Apollinaire’s imagery of the “seven swords” in “La Chanson du Mal-Aimé” from *Alcools*. As in the devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows, the image of the pierced heart here becomes a symbol of inner, restrained, and sacred sorrow.

Spanish work, Spain or Latin America
19th century
Religious folk art

Painting mounted under glass
Gold and silver highlights
Black background
Antique black frame
Antique backing on wood panels, with strips of canvas and reinforcing paper

Dimensions:

55 x 44 cm including frame.

“MARIA DE LOS DOLORES” at the bottom.
“I.N.R.I.” on the cross.

Visible signs of age. Minor losses in the painting mounted under glass, wear, scratches, losses in the gold and silver highlights, localized lifting, craquelure, oxidation, and wear on the black background. Minor losses and scuffs on the antique black frame. Original backing on wood panels with strips of canvas and reinforcing paper. The work retains excellent clarity and a remarkable decorative presence.