The Virgin of Guadalupe is the most famous saint in Mexico - the patron saint of Mexico, in fact. Known as the “Virgen Morena” - the brown skin virgin- Guadalupe was supposedly first encountered on the Hill of Tepeyac in what is now Mexico City only a few short years after the Spanish Conquest, by an Aztec Indian, Juan Diego, who was told to go and tell the bishop to build a temple on the spot where he first saw her. It happens that this spot is the same location where the temple of Tonantzin (“Our Lady” in the Aztec dialect, Nahuatl) was located. Tonantzin, on the other hand, was the recreation of an earlier Mother Goddess of the Indians who had been in the Valley of Mexico long before the arrival of the Aztecs.

This print is based on the Tilma de Juan Diego - the garment where the image first miraculously appeared. The frame is done in the style of 19th century Mexican retablos, with the famous “concha” design at the top.