Guadalupe in the Art

Coordinator: Presbyter. Cango. Luis Ávila Blancas, Colaborator Emma Hernandez T.

This section will present permanent texts and images of Guadalupan Painting, Architecture and Sculpture and it will also include a short comment on the population of the Spanish province of Cáceres, where a monastery, which dates from the XII century, is located. It seems that its name means "river of wolves". The image in the Shrine in Mexico has nothing to do with such Spanish province, in spite of the fact that most of the men who conquered Mexico came from Extremadura.

Modern etymologies state that the name of the Virgin of the Tepeyac comes from the Náhuatl word "Tequatlaxupe, which means "the one who crushes the stone serpent" or better, from the word "Tlecuauhtlapcupeuh", which means "the one who comes from the region of light, like the fire eagle". It is supposed that the terms were transformed by the Spaniards because they were not able to pronounce the native language correctly and also because they wanted to recall their place of origin.

The painting, sculpture, engraving, and architecture dedicated to glorify our Lady of Guadalupe, offer a wide opportunity, to those who study these arts, to report on the creative work of many generations of devotee artists and artisans. This can be done by keeping track of the evolution of each century as of 1531, or it can be done by artistic genre. In any case, the magnitude of the artistic field is extraordinary.

Because of their particular features, it is possible to study the contribution of each of the Fine Arts to the Guadalupan devoutness. As far as painting is concerned, it is known that a number of copies of the image were made on the days immediately after the Appearance. Mariano de Echeverría y Veytía, conscientious historian, reports this fact in his book "Baluartes de México". It must be remembered that, in the battle of Lepanto, there was a copy of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the chambers of Andrea Doria.

The main painters of the New Spain and later of the independent Mexico, have used their paint brushes either to paint the image or to use it as the topic of their artistic production. The work of contemporaneous painter Jose Garcia Ocejo (Cordoba, Mexican Republic, 1928 - )must be taken into consideration. He painted a contemporary version of the Virgin for the Basilica of the Annunciation in Holy Land.

The present Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, built by architect Pedro Ramirez Vázquez is an important milestone of modern religious art. In that same place, the old religious buildings are still kept. These old buildings were built in the baroque period and "El Pocillo"- built by the Hispanic architect Francisco Antonio de Guerrero y Torres – outstands. It may be considered as the summit of baroque art in the New Spain.

GUADALUPE IN THE LITERATURE. MONSIGNORE P. GUIZAR´S POEMS

POEMAS EN INGLES,

DEFINITION

You are all light. Even your shadow
clarifies, gladdens, soothes, perfumes, illumines
and undoes the sheaves of penumbra
because of which the sun, in all its splendors, dims.

You are all of God. Although you are ours,
since you carry in your voice, a Mexican timbre,
there is nothing in you that is not of God, the Father,
and in you He manifests grace in all its fullness.

You are all sweetness. If the veins
of us, your children, carry offenses,
with only the smile of your lips
you give us balm to heal our wounds.

You are all peace. The heavens proclaim
that the love of your being always appears
with memories of the olive branch and the dove
in the flag of your dark skin.

You are all garden. Noble attribute,
for having made of your womb the delicacy clay
where the Living Seed grew,
and to God and to us, you delivered the Fruit.

You are all song. And so much so
that by you the "cenzontle" is provided with its voice
to give glory, when it joyously sings,
to the father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

You are all woman. Sublime Virgin,
maternal tenderness, pure caress,
altar of grace where God officiates
the mystery of love which redeems us.

Poem: Monsignor P. Guizar.V.
Translation : Barbara Wright

 

ONLY WITH YOU

If the moon at your feet yields space
and forges the pedestal of your beauty,
if breaking through the clouds as if by surprise,
the sun shines with the rays of your life,

if you have come Maiden, your head
covered with a mantle of stars.
if the radiance of your eyes only expresses
that the light of love is already kindled,

If you are, Virgin, the flame that God the Father
left to light our way,
if you are" the river of light", my sweet Mother,

that only clarity has sown,
I come so that you might illumine my destiny,
because there is nothing the same in any other place.

Poem: Monsignor P. Guizar.V.
Translation : Barbara Wright


FACE TO FACE

Let me in stillness contemplate your eyes
and trough these eyes know your soul;
I want to drink of the glorious spring
that sustains you in plenitude of grace.

To pass through your black pupils
to the brightness of your heaven of cobalt.
when the stars, when bring light
to your precious mantle are palpitating.

To enter your garden of Indian soil,
in order to see how your celestial roses
mold with exquisite beauty your living image
and continue flowering in your gown.

I long to follow the path of your maternal love
in the iris of your living eyes,
to fill the brim my happiness because I am your son
and to see your light, as Juan Diego saw it.

Beholding, then, your gentle gaze,
I come to understand the wise plan
which the Three had in greeting you :
The Father, the Son and the Holly Spirit.

Autor, Mons. J. Guizar V.
Translator, Barbara Wrigth

 

THE FAVOR OF GUADALUPE

The air sings if your voice kisses it,
the water dances if your light focuses upon it,
the earth is heaven if your foot touches it,
the fire is glory if it expresses your love.

And if my soul enters into your gaze,
repentant of its mad life,
you returns it purified, and from your lovely mouth
a word begins to blossom :

You call me " son " with tender accent
as you said to Juan Diego the day
on which the winter was clothed with roses.

You draw, then, my steeps towards yourself
and you offer me your fountain of joy,
placing me in the crossing of your arm.

Autor, Mons. J. Guizar V.
Translator, Barbara Wrigth

AVE MARÍA

Oh Virgin of the Dawn, Ave María
the Father of the harvest is with you
to cause the flour of His Wheat
to be converted into the Bread of your joy.

Blessed for being a woman, Ave María,
because your virginal whom gave shelter
to the Eternal Word, redeeming friend,
Who, with His Flesh, ransomed mine.

Lady of the Evening, Ave María,
pray for us, sinners,
now and in the hour of that day

On which Dead will command us, " Come "
and make our interior responses
gladden the Angels. Amen,

Autor, Mons. J. Guizar V.
Translator, Barbara Wrigth

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