Sebastián López de Arteaga (Seville, 1610 - Mexico City, 1652)"Our Lady of Villaviciosa".Oil on canvas.104,5 x 83 cm.The painting “Our Lady of Villaviciosa” represents the Novo-Hispanic Baroque work attributed to Sebastián López de Arteaga, a painter originally from Seville who worked in Mexico in the 17th century. Arteaga, trained in the Spanish pictorial tradition, had contact with the great Baroque tenebrists such as José de Ribera and Caravaggio, which strongly marked his style and allowed him to bring pictorial sensibility that emphasized realism, theatricality and visual impact to Latin America. This can be appreciated in Our Lady of Villaviciosa, where the chiaroscuro and expressiveness of the violinist evoke the aesthetics of the great Spanish painters of the 17th century.Sebastián López de Arteaga stands out as a key painter in the transition from Mannerist to Baroque painting within New Spain. The comparison with Arteaga's “Doubting Thomas”, preserved in the Museo Nacional de Arte of Mexico, is pertinent, as both paintings share directed light, with faces emerging from the penumbra and a composition centered on the gestures of the figures. Just as in the painting of St. Thomas, where disbelief is manifested in the intense observation of Christ's wound, in Our Lady of Villaviciosa, the violinist shows an expression of admiration directed at the Virgin, reinforcing the mystical dimension of the scene.Since the sixteenth century, the worship of the Virgin Mary was fundamental in the viceroyalty of New Spain for evangelization and the construction of a Catholic identity. Images of the Virgin Mary, especially those associated with specific advocations such as Guadalupe, Remedios or Villaviciosa, were used as symbols of protection and faith for the indigenous and mestizo population, thus facilitating the integration of local beliefs with European Christianity. The invocation of the Virgin of Villaviciosa has its origins in the Iberian Peninsula, where she is venerated both in Portugal and Spain. Worship of this advocation spread to Latin America through the colonizers and missionaries, who brought with them images and miraculous stories of the Virgin of Villaviciosa. However, the adaptation of this devotion to a Novo-Hispanic context is evident in this painting, where clear signs of syncretism and cultural reinterpretation are observed, incorporating elements of indigenous and mestizo iconography.This is reflected, for example on the mestizo features of the Virgin and Child, with clearly darker skin. The chromatic palette, which presents more vibrant and warmer colors than those found in European paintings, reflecting the influence of the local environment and the access to indigenous pigments.Most notably, there are decorative elements that integrate indigenous symbols in an attempt to make the image more accessible to local worshippers.For example, the floral ornaments and jewels that decorate the Virgin's clothing present a mixture of European motifs with indigenous stylistic elements. The flowers used have a design closer to Mexican flowers, such as cempasúchil (Mexican marigold) and other species native to Mexico, suggesting a local reinterpretation. These flowers have a cultural and spiritual significance in indigenous traditions, especially in festivities such as the Day of the Dead.Other curious decorative elements are the two ornaments in the shape of eagles that appear on the upper part of the Virgin's mantle, which seem to have a red plume, a detail that could refer to Mexican traditions, where the eagle was a symbol of power and a sacred figure for the Mexicans, representing the god Huitzilopochtli.Finally, one of the most remarkable details in the painting is the hanging jewel on the lower part of the Virgin's dress, which shows an unusual design related to the tradition of the "flying stick", an indigenous ceremony practiced in the Totonacapan region of Mexico. The design of this jewel is reminiscent of the structure of the flying stick ritual, where participants spin around a pole in a ceremonial dance.In this painting, beyond the technical treatment, the iconography reinforces its devotional function. The presence of the violinist and the bull in the foreground introduces an everyday scene that enriches the pictorial narrative. These elements refer to a pastoral scene, in which the music and the presence of the animals suggest a miraculous manifestation of the Virgin in a humble context.On the other hand, it is worth mentioning the parallelism between this painting and the Virgin of Loreto by Juan Correa, which allows us to contextualize the evolution of this type of iconography in Novo-Hispanic art. Although Correa adopts a more decorative style, the similarity in the chromatic choice and in the structure of the mantle suggests a continuity in the way of portraying the Marian invocations in Mexico.In conclusion, the painting can be dated to the second half of the 17th century, within the period in which Arteaga consolidated his work in Mexico. Its comparison with Doubting Tomas and with Correa's Virgin of Loreto reinforces its importance as one of the paintings that most represents the adaptation of Spanish Baroque in New Spain. Provenance:-House of Albornoz, Extremadura, Spain, and also established in New Spain, Mexico.-By family descent over centuries to Mrs. Blanca Carrillo de Albornoz Muñoz de San Pedro. Spain.-Private collection Spain acquired from the above family through the art trade in 2019. Reference bibliography:- Arroyo Lemus, E. M. (2004). "Pintura novohispana: Conservación y restauración en el INAH: 1961-2004". Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH).- Brading, D., Buxó, J. P., & Lafaye, J. (2004). "El Pegaso o el mundo barroco novohispano en el siglo XVII". Ediciones Turner.- Burke, M. (1992). "Pintura y escultura en Nueva España: El barroco (Arte Novohispano)". Fondo de Cultura Económica.- Rodríguez Gutiérrez de Ceballos, A. (1990). "Sebastián López de Arteaga (1610-1656): Un pintor sevillano en Nueva España". Fundación Universitaria Española.- Rodríguez Prampolini, I. (1994). “Sebastián López de Arteaga y la introducción del tenebrismo en Nueva España”. Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, UNAM, 59(17-34).- Sepúlveda, C. (2010). "El arte novohispano. Nueva Escuela Mexicana". Secretaría de Educación Pública.