Our Lady of Guadalupe, Luke 1:46 Wall Art

The details of the image

Mary stands with her head gently bowed and her hands joined in prayer. Her mantle is a deep blue-green, edged in gold and starred all over with tiny gold points; beneath it she wears a rose gown patterned with fine golden flowers. A dark ribbon is tied high at her waist, and a small brooch sits at her collar. Behind her, a full oval of golden rays surrounds her from head to foot.

At her feet is a dark crescent moon, and under it a small winged angel in a red tunic holds up the hem of her mantle on a bank of blue clouds. All of these elements come from the original image, reinterpreted here with loose washes. Above her, in brown script: “My soul doth magnify the Lord,” Luke 1:46.

Who is Our Lady of Guadalupe?

According to the account handed down by the Church in Mexico, in December 1531 Mary appeared to Juan Diego, an Indigenous convert, on the hill of Tepeyac, just north of present-day Mexico City. She spoke to him in his own language, Nahuatl, and asked for a church to be built there. When the bishop asked for a sign, Juan Diego gathered roses in winter in his cloak, his tilma; when he opened it before the bishop, the image was found on the cloth. That tilma is displayed today in the Basilica of Guadalupe, one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world, and Juan Diego was canonized in 2002. Her feast falls on December 12.

Each detail was read by the people of the time as a message: a woman standing before the sun and above the moon, greater than the powers they had worshipped, yet with hands folded in prayer to someone greater still. The black ribbon at her waist was traditionally understood as a sign that she is with child.

That is why the verse fits. Luke 1:46 opens the Magnificat, the song Mary sings when she visits her cousin Elizabeth while carrying Jesus. Its next line continues, “And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” The whole figure points away from herself, exactly as her words do.

A gift for her, and for Catholic homes

Many Mexican American and Latino families already keep an image of La Virgen de Guadalupe at home, and this gentle watercolor version gives a new generation its own. It is a thoughtful baptism gift from a godmother, a present for a mother, grandmother or friend named Guadalupe, or a print for a home altar or prayer corner. Hung in a bedroom or entry, the golden rays glow warmly against a light wall.