John because it flies high like the Christology he starts with in his Gospel. Luke because he starts with the story of the high-priest Zachariah and bulls are a symbol for the sacrifice that a priest makes and an eagle for St. Mark because he starts with John the Baptist “crying out in the wilderness” like a lion a bull for St. Matthew because he starts with the human genealogy of Christ, a lion for St. Each of the Evangelists has a symbol associated with them: a man for St. John because there is a faint Eagle beside him. John the evangelist uttering: “Signum magnum a paruit in cielo” (I saw a great sign appear in the sky) – the opening phrase of Revelation 12. On the left is Saint Michael armed with a sword that is in a position to strike the dragon. They are shown here as Mary’s weapons against the evil one.Ībove the woman is God the Father, here depicted with an equilateral triangle on his head, which is a symbol for the Blessed Trinity. (In the Book of Wisdom, wisdom is associated with “Fear of God.”) And, third, the Lilies, which symbolize purity. Second is the mirror, which symbolizes wisdom. First is the Mystical Rose, which symbolizes her participation in the plan of the Blessed Trinity in saving the world. We know the woman is depicted as Mary here because of the three Marian symbols on her lower right. While the woman can be an allegory for the early Christian Church, it can also be an allegory for Mary – as Cabrera does here. In the center is “the woman” who twists her body so that her child is as far away as possible from the dragon. It is hailed to be one of the outstanding neo-Hispanic works of the 18th Century. These, of course, is a reflection that Catholics believe Mary’s participation in God’s plan thwarted the effects of the fall.īefore going any further, it will do well to describe the painting first. It is interesting that Cabrera paints the woman as Mary and shows her crushing the head of the dragon when these are not specifically stated in Revelation. He even adds wings to the woman to reflect verse 14, which says the woman was given two wings. (Revelation 12:1-8) This is the image that Miguel Cabrera depicts in his painting. Michael cast the dragon and his angels out of heaven. The text continues to tell us that a dragon was poised to devour the child of the woman, but a battle ensued, and St. In the book of Revelation (otherwise known as Apocalypse), the author describes a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon at her feet, wearing a crown of twelve stars. It is an allegory of her participation in the defeat of evil. Paintings and statues of Mary often depict her crushing the head of a snake.
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