Miguel Cabrera (Antequera de Oaxaca, Mexico, 1715 / 1720 - Mexico, 1768) 'Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Queen of the Carmelite Order with Child' Oil on canvas. Signed. 104.5 x 78 cm. A beautiful painting of New Spanish art from the delicate, tender, and mystical brush of Miguel Cabrera, who portrays the perfection of porcelain faces and anatomies, garments, movements, realism, and depth like no other, 'as if we were present.' It depicts the Virgin of Mount Carmel, also known as Star of the Sea, who is also the patroness of sailors, partly due to the proximity of Mount Carmel to the Mediterranean Sea. She is a beacon for ships as she announces safe harbour. She appears dressed as the 'almsgiver of Carmel,' with a royal crown on her head, holding the Christ Child in her left hand and a scapular in her right hand, a symbol of the yoke of Christ, the yoke that Jesus invites us to bear, but which Mary helps us carry. Miguel Cabrera was one of the most renowned painters in the field of 18th-century New Spanish painting, producing work that the Dallas Museum of Art defines as 'legendary: over 309 works have been documented from his large studio.' Little is known about his youth; in fact, according to the Andrés Blaisten Museum, it is only through the painter's will in 1768 that we know he was a native of Oaxaca. His first known records are from 1739, the year of his marriage to Ana María Solano, as well as his time in Juan Correa's workshop in the capital of the Viceroyalty. Archbishop Rubio Salinas was a protector of Cabrera, whom he appointed as his court painter. He was also a painter for the Society of Jesus, for whose churches he created numerous works. In 1753, he was appointed lifelong president of the San Carlos Academy. In 1756, Cabrera published 'Maravilla americana y conjunto de raras maravillas observadas con la dirección de las reglas del arte de la pintura' (American Marvels and a Collection of Rare Marvels Observed Following the Rules of the Art of Painting), a narration about the image of the Virgin Guadalupe printed at the press of the Jesuit college of San Ildefonso. His works are preserved in many churches and convents in Mexico. Two of his images of the Virgin of Guadalupe are housed in the Vatican Museum. Another, created in 1756 for the temple of San Francisco Javier, is preserved in the National Museum of the Viceroyalty. The Dallas Museum of Art houses a Santa Gertrudis La Magna by Miguel Cabrera, and another representation of the saint, also by Cabrera and dated 1768, is part of the collection at the José Luis Bello y Zetina Museum in Puebla, Mexico. Likewise, we should highlight an important series of Casta paintings from 1763, kept in the collection at the Museum of the Americas in Madrid. They depict families, father, mother, and child from various castes and social strata, in situations of everyday life.   Reference Bibliography: - This painting was part of the exhibition “De Claris Mvlieribvs. Santas, mártires, sabias...”, which took place in 2024 at the Convent of San Juan de la Cruz, in Alba de Tormes, Salamanca, and is reproduced on page 210 - 211 of the catalog. - Dallas Museum of Art. (s.f.). 'Saint Gertrude (Santa Gertrudis)'. (2006.37). Https://collections.dma.org/artwork/5328501 - Museo Andrés Blaisten. (s.f.). https://museoblaisten.com/Artista/79/Miguel-Cabrera