The Virgin of Quito — also known as the Virgin of the Apocalypse, Winged Virgin of Quito, Dancing Madonna, and Legarda's Virgin — is a wooden sculpture by the Quiteño artist Bernardo de Legarda which has become the most representative example of the Quito School of art, developed in the Ecuadorian capital during the Spanish colonial era. This particular Virgin became a popular cult image which is still venerated — via innumerable replicas — throughout the northern Andes.
Virgin of Quito by Bernardo de Legarda, 18th century.
Herrán Matorras' Virgin of El Panecillo (1976) on El Panecillo is a large replica of the sculpture.
A colonial replica of the Virgin of Quito displayed in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.
The Quito School is a Latin American colonial artistic tradition that constitutes essentially the whole of the professional artistic output developed in the territory of the Royal Audience of Quito – from Pasto and Popayán in the north to Piura and Cajamarca in the south – during the Spanish colonial period (1542–1824). It is especially associated with the 17th and 18th centuries and was almost exclusively focused on the religious art of the Catholic Church in the country. Characterized by a mastery of the realistic and by the degree to which indigenous beliefs and artistic traditions are evident, these productions were among of the most important activities in the economy of the Royal Audience of Quito. Such was the prestige of the movement even in Europe that it was said that King Carlos III of Spain (1716–1788), referring to one of its sculptors in particular, opined: "I am not concerned that Italy has Michelangelo; in my colonies of America I have the master Caspicara".
La Virgen alada del Apocalípsis ("Winged Virgin of the Apocalypse") by Miguel de Santiago, 17th century.
Retrato de una señora principal con su negra esclava ("Portrait of a Quito Matron Lady with Her Black Slave") by Vicente Albán, 1783. Oil on canvas, 80 x 109 cm. Madrid, Museum of the Americas.
“Winged Virgin of the Apocalypse” by Miguel de Santiago.
Virgin of Quito” by Bernardo de Legarda. The wooden sculpture follows the theme of the Woman of the Apocalypse.