Painting of St. Rose of Lima is part of Walters Art Museum exhibition

Just in time for the elevation to the papacy of Pope Leo XIV, the American-born cardinal who was for many years a missionary in Peru, the Walters Art Museum is displaying a rare treasure of the Catholic Church in colonial Peru. 

“The Allegory of St. Rosa of Peru,” an oil-on-canvas painting of the mid-18^th century by an anonymous artist from the Cuzco School, is one of many works of art in the Latin American Art galleries of the Baltimore museum. The new permanent installation of works from two millennia opened to the public May 17.

The painting depicts St. Rose (Rosa) of Lima, the first canonized saint from the New World. Born Isabel Flores de Oliva in 1586, the Dominican tertiary was revered for helping the sick and hungry, and became the patron saint of embroidery, gardening and florists. 

St. Rosa is portrayed from the waist up emerging from a giant rose, wearing a dark habit and contemplating an image of the infant Christ. Below her are two figures. On the left stands an allegorical female figure with a feathered headdress and quiver of arrows, standard ways of symbolizing the Americas at that time. 

On the right is a more surprising image, a stylized Inca ruler. In a pose of deep reverence, the ruler has a darker skin tone from the other figures and wears a “tocapu,” a tunic with square patterns. Over his shoulder he wears a “yacolla” (cloak) associated with men of importance. He also wears a colored band around his forehead that includes a red fringe, both parts of the Inca crown. Above his crown sprout three flowers, the “cantuta” linked to nobility since pre-Columbian times and still the national flower of Peru and Bolivia. These details would have been instantly recognized as marking the man as a member of the Inca royal family.

This symbolism was very important to criollos, people of Spanish descent born in the Americas but banned from high levels in the bureaucracy.  By evoking the ancient Inca Monarchy, they were proclaiming their equality with other kingdoms integrated into the universal Spanish monarchy. Such pictures were banned after the Tupac Amaru uprising of 1780-83 and many were destroyed. Hence the Walters painting, probably owned by a private family, is a rare survivor.

“One of the goals of this installation was to make a space that speaks to the Baltimore community,” said Patricia Lagarde, one of the curators of the exhibit at the Walters. “The painting of St. Rosa of Lima relates not only to Baltimore’s deep Catholic roots but also connects Baltimore and Lima as important centers of exchange.”

She pointed out that St. Rosa in the picture holds a cathedral atop an anchor. The anchor is “symbolic of Lima’s role as a valuable port within the Spanish Empire, similar to Baltimore’s longtime role as a port city.”  The cathedral also underlines that Lima (like Baltimore) “was a central pillar of the Catholic faith.”

At a time when many are saturated with images on social media, Ellen Hoobler, Curator of Art of the Americas at the Walters Art Museum, said she hopes visitors to the exhibit will spend time contemplating the St. Rosa painting. 

“It’s hard to remember that paintings from this time period tell a multitude of stories in just one painting,” said Hoobler, who attends Mass at St. Jude Shrine in Baltimore. “This kind of image and all of the objects in here reward you for looking at them closely.”

Kevin J. Parks contributed to this story.

For more information on the exhibition, visit the Walters website here.

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