- We're standing in the former palace
of Agustin de Iturbide, and we're looking
at a Crowned Nun Portrait.
- And this is a full-length life-sized portrait,
she's frontal, she's a beautiful young woman,
elaborately dressed.
- This particular nun, Maria Guadalupe,
is from a Conceptionist convent in the city of Puebla
and so the Conceptionist Order was the earliest one
founded for women here in New Spain
and it was reserved for the wealthiest,
elite, pure-blooded Spanish women
- And so when we think about nuns, we think about
taking a vow of poverty, living a very simple life,
so we might imagine that she is going to renounce
all of the wealth and luxury we see her with
because what we're seeing is Maria on the day
when she takes her vows, but in fact
the life she leads is not really one of deprivation
when she enters the nunnery.
- Though there were many female Orders
that took intense vows of poverty, the Conceptionists
were not one of those Orders.
You came in with a dowry for instance.
- Very much like any marriage.
- And in fact she is getting married,
she's getting married in this case to Christ.
The Conceptionists could actually have vast libraries,
musical instruments, and we see some of that reflected
in this portrait.
- The day that a woman took her vows,
the day that she professed was a day
of communal celebration, this was a big deal in her life,
and this portrait was intended for her family
to remember her by after she took those vows
and left her family.
- Even if you could have wealth
when you entered into the convent,
you still were living a cloistered life,
meaning you are dead to the outside world.
This was not only a big deal for her,
it's a really important moment for her family as well.
- It almost reminds me of the way today
we take photographs of someone on the day
that they graduate from high school.
She looks very proud, you can feel the pride of her family
while looking at her in this portrait.
- She's wearing this wonderful crown that is made
of flowers and these little metal or wax angels
and then she's also holding a sculpture
of a Christ child in her left hand, and in her right hand
this enormous candle decorated with more flowers.
- So she's being associated with her namesake,
with the Virgin Mary, we might think about paintings
of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child,
we might be reminded of paintings
of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven
where she's crowned, and so there is both
this idea of her as the bride of Christ but also
an association of her with the Virgin Mary.
- The Conceptionists really made
this connection to the Virgin Mary clear,
they are known to wear blue cloaks which are seen
Maria Guadalupe wear here, and if you look at
where the cloak is fastened, just below her chin,
we see this really wonderful circular element,
and this is what's called a nun's badge,
and it's jewelry, in many cases it was tortoise shell frame
with a painting on copper in the center,
and in this case we're seeing an image
of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.
- So we can tell that because we have iconography
or symbolism like the stars that surround Virgin's head,
the moon at her feet,
and the Immaculate Conception refers to the idea
that the Virgin Mary herself was conceived without sin.
- And you'll notice that in this nun's badge,
the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception
wears the same blue mantle or cloak that the nun
displayed here is wearing.
- The most fabulous part of her outfit
is that long pleat down the front of her dress,
just ironing that would have taken a very long time,
this is a very luxurious outfit.
- And reflects the wealth of this religious Order,
and also reflects the wealth of her family.
- So let's talk about the Christ child that she holds
for a moment, because that may look rather odd
to our eyes, because it is a sculpture, almost like a doll
of the Christ child, he's holding a staff,
he's dressed beautifully, he's got a gold crown
that's got jewels in it on his head.
- And we know that these sculptures of the Christ child
were often treated as stand-ins for children
as a way to channel those maternal instincts.
And this is a tradition that you see in western Europe
as well, you could dress these dolls of the Christ child,
they are also associated with the wealth of your Orders,
it makes sense given who we're seeing
in this particular portrait.
- She also wears a very long chain of rosary beads
and if we follow those down we see an elaborate inscription
that identifies the nun and tells us the date
on which she professed or entered the Order.
- This inscription tells us that she is
the legitimate daughter of two elites,
her parents are named as a Don and a Dona,
meaning that they are very high up in the social hierarchy,
tells us where she professes as a nun,
and it tells us the date, July 4th, 1800.
- Maria also carries a very long candle
which is also very luxurious, it's lit at the top,
it's wreathed with roses and carnations,
flowers associated with Virgin Mary,
with virginity, with love, with marriage.
- It's another ostentatious symbol here, similar
to the ostentatious array of flowers, the huge crown.
- The jewelry that she wears, that fastens her cloak.
- Something to note about the crown,
in addition to the same flowers that we see on the candle
is that the crown both alludes to, say,
the crown of thorns that Christ wears,
but it also relates to the crowning
of the Virgin Mary in Heaven after her death.
- And we have this lovely coming together,
across the composition, of reds, of blues,
of whites, of pale brown colors,
it's just a tour de force of painting
as well as this amazing moment for Maria.
- And we can't help but be drawn to her
because she's looking out at us, as a woman
who's about to renounce her worldly life
and enter a cloistered convent.
There's something very alluring about this
to us in the 21st century still.
- Yeah, this is a moment of transition
in her very young life.