Viceregal School. Peru. 18th century. Lot n° 72

Viceregal School. Peru. 18th century. 'Saint Rose of Lima' Oil on canvas. 58 x 45,5 cm. Wonderful, Peruvian viceroyalty canvas that depicts the patron saint of Lima, very similar in composition and form to the one that is currently exhibited in the Museum of America in Madrid. This Peruvian saint, named Isabel Flores de Oliva, was born in 1586 and took the tertiary habit of Saint Dominic with the name of Rosa de Santa Maria. Beatified in 1668 and canonised 3 years later, she became the first Latin American saint. This Dominican nun, dressed in a Creole headdress, and meditating and praying the hours, after her death in 1617, soon became the patron saint of the Viceroyalty of Peru, and later of all Latin America. The painter has taken artistic licenceto present her as dressed more like a princess than a nun in Dominican habit: with pearly cloak and brocade, and with the halo of sanctity, with long hair and without the veilof a virgin and bride of Christ. Thus, she appears as a Creole woman who ascends to the altars, rather than a nun with a Dominican headdress and veil, because, perhaps, as a nun she would be more distant from the worship of uneducated people.