Novohispanic School. Oaxaca. Mexico. 18th century. 'Votive offering with the portrait of Pedro Joseph Miguel Portero, offered to Our Lady of Remedies and Saint Vincent Ferrer during his serious illness' Oil on canvas. Dated in 1689. 95 x 77 cm.   Votive offering dated 1689, ingenuously depicting a parishioner's prayer of thanksgiving to Our Lady of Los Remedios of Juchitán and Saint Dominic of Oaxaca (although Saint Vincent Ferrer is painted and depicted) for the miracle of his recovery from a serious illness. The scene is divided into an earthly plane in which the healed child, presumably a Valencian parishioner, is found, due to the choice of his patron saint, Saint Vincent Ferrer, also a Dominican, but not Saint Dominic of Oaxaca, where he may have settled, whom he invokes in his prayer of thanksgiving and whom he would confuse due to the similarity of his habit and the same religious order. On the divine plane is the Virgin of Los Remedios, the oldest in Mexico, as recounted by Fray Luis de Cisneros in his 1621 work Historia De El Principio y Origen, Progressos venidos á México y milagros de la Santa Ymagen de nuestra Señora de los Remedios, extramuros de México (History of the Beginning and Origin, Progress Made in Mexico and Miracles of the Holy Image of Our Lady of Los Remedios, Outside the Walls of Mexico). And next to her is the Dominican saint San Vicente Ferrer with his ‘Timete Deum’ (Fear God), the motto of this 14th-century Spanish preacher. ‘Fear God and give him honour, for the hour of his judgement has come,’ the central theme of his sermons on the Last Judgement (he also appears with another of his iconographic attributes, one of the apocalyptic trumpets).   This painting, in a popular style and lacking in realistic proportion, shows the humility and devotion of the donor, and its main objective is to give public testimony to the favour received.   Accompanying this canvas is the narrative of what happened, and the text describing the miracle and prayer of thanksgiving: 'Doy gracias a Ntra. Sra. de Actan. y a Sto. Dgo. de Oaxaca. Año de 1689. Retrato de Pedro Joseph Miguel Portero Yjo de Joseph Portero que estando gravemente enfermo le ofrecieron a la birgen sano.' ('I give thanks to Our Lady of Ac.tan. (?) and Saint Dominic of Oaxaca. Year 1689. Portrait of Pedro Joseph Miguel Portero, son of Joseph Portero, who was seriously ill and was offered to the Virgin Mary for healing.')   With brushstrokes full of detail, we contemplate the reflection and faith of the life of one of its inhabitants, the gratitude of ordinary people, which shows us yet another piece of valuable information for constructing the history of Mexico. Therefore, it is not merely a religious object, but one that carries all our artistic and cultural recognition.