Nun’s breastplate. Colonial School. Mexico. 18th century.

Nun’s breastplate. Colonial School. Mexico. 18th century.
"Holy Trinity"
Oil on copper. 18,5 x 15 cm. In a tortoiseshell frame.
This was a genre of devotional art which spread widely in the 17th and 18th centuries in Spain and the New Hispanic world. The breast plates were often small painted or embroidered pictures of religious scenes, which nuns wore on their chest when they took their vows. In the classical portraits of crowned nuns, as well as flowers, veils and other ornaments, one can also appreciate the relevance that these breastplates had. Occasionally, even artists of the calibre of José de Páez, Miguel Cabrera and Luís Juárez, among others, painted some of these breastplates.