The Virgin of the Navigators
Alejo Fernández, 1533
The Virgin of the Navigators is an oil-on-panel work by Alejo Fernández, made as the central panel of an altarpiece for the chapel of the Casa de Contratación, the institution then based in the Alcázar of Seville. Scholars date it to around 1531 to 1536, and it was probably commissioned by the institution's officials, who set it in the Hall of Audiences so that the room could also serve as a chapel.
The composition follows the Virgin of Mercy type, in which Mary, shown larger than everyone else, spreads her mantle over those seeking shelter. Here that protection extends to ships, their cargo and crews braving the dangerous Atlantic crossing. The identities of the figures beneath the mantle remain uncertain, though proposals have linked them to Columbus, Vespucci and other expedition members or to figures from the court. Behind them, Indigenous Americans appear among the converted peoples, making this one of the earliest paintings to depict them.
The work is often read as an early statement of Spanish imperial ideology, and its American theme sets it apart from the religious painting of its period. It now hangs in the Admiral's Room of the Alcázar in Seville, though ownership is disputed between the city council and Patrimonio Nacional.
- Painter
- Alejo Fernández
- Date
- 1533
- Medium
- oil paint, panel
- Museum
- Reales Alcázares
- Genre
- religious art
- Depicts
- Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Mary, woman, Amerigo Vespucci, Christopher Columbus
