Novohispanic School. Mexico. Circa 1800. The Apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe'. Series of five pencil and ink drawings on paper. 43,2 x 29,5 cm. each This is the entire series relating to the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This is the entire series relating to the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the Indian Juan Diego. It narrates the miraculous origin of the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in five independent scenes. In 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared to the Indian Juan Diego in Tepeyac and instructed him to tell the bishop of Mexico, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, to build a temple. The bishop asked Juan Diego to bring him proof. The Virgin, in her third apparition, asks him to gather flowers from the place to take to the bishop. During his visit, Juan Diego opens his cloak full of flowers, and the image of the Virgin miraculously appears printed on his tunic. The graphic representations develop parallel to the written accounts. The image of the Guadalupana, derived from the apocalyptic Woman, praying and haloed by the sun on the lunar crescent, is identified with the Immaculate Conception, a mystery alluded to in the text and defended with particular zeal by the Franciscan order. The Virgin chooses to transmit her message to a Christian Indian, Juan Diego, an express manifestation of her protection of the indigenous people, from whom she takes her language and skin colour.