The Invisible Sainthood of Mariana de Jesús Paredes y Flores

Abstract

Abstract What did it mean for portrait images to generate recognition of early modern individuals as saints? Did images make sainthood visible through a person’s particularities or their conformity to perfect models? To be recognisable as an historical individual was not necessarily compatible with being recognised as a saint, either officially by Rome, or experientially by devotees. Early images of Quito’s most prominent candidate for sainthood, Mariana de Jesús Paredes y Flores (1618–1645), throw into sharp relief the pressure that posthumous candidacy for sainthood brought to bear on portrait images, especially of women. Mariana’s imagery reconfigures the relationship among visibility, individuality and recognition that posed a common problem for aspiring saints’ portraits. Far from being transparent post-Tridentine propaganda, Mariana’s early iconography works against the grain of the portrait genre, creatively addressing the tensions between individual likeness and conformity to perfect models, and between concealing sainthood and making it visible.