Storied 18th century painting returns to Santa Fe after travels
Posted on September 13, 2022, by Loretto Community
Published by the Santa Fe New Mexican on September 13, 2022
File photo
She stands there, a study in spiritual power and dignity, with one hand pulling a soul from the mouth of hell and the other confidently cradling the baby Jesus.
She is Our Lady of the Light, a luminescent painting of the Virgin Mary by 18th century Mexican artist Miguel Mateo Maldonado y Cabrera (informally known as Miguel Cabrera), and she’s come home to Santa Fe.
Then again, Santa Fe was her home for centuries, though she traveled up to Colorado and elsewhere for a bit before making her way back here with the help of the Sisters of Loretto, whose members recently donated the oil-on-canvas work to the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts for permanent display.
Noting the Sisters of Loretto, whose members first arrived in Santa Fe in 1852, number only about 100 today, Sister Eleanor Craig said as that religious order’s membership continues to wane, “this gift is part of our disposition of our treasures so that our legacy will continue in the places where we worked.”
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