La Virgen de Quito. Un símbolo de la fe y de la ciudad de Quito

Abstract

The image referred to as Virgen de Quito, an art work by Bernardo de Legarda, sculptor and painter belonging to the Baroque Quito School of Art, is an artistic and religious referent for said city. It has been discussed whether the image is inspired in the Virgin of the Apocalypse, in the Immaculate Conception or in the Virgin of the Assumption. According to the author, complete identification between the Virgin of the Apocalypse and the Immaculate Conception is an iconographic synthesis originated in Spain by the end of the 16^th Century. The same occurred later on with the advocation of the Virgin of the Assumption, which accepts the statement that Virgin Mary rose up to Heaven. Such dogma is very close to that of the Immaculate Conception. Therefore, it can be affirmed that any of the three aforementioned denominations applied to the Virgen de Quito may be correct. This paper also synthesizes which images are considered to be forerunners to this emblematic work of art, whose hybridization between the European and the Indigenous appears as a feature of our Baroque.