Colonial School. Mexico or Peru. 17th – 18th century.

Colonial School. Mexico or Peru. 17th – 18th century.
"True portrait of Our Lady of the Estrella of Enciso"
Oil on canvas. 142 x 103 cm.
There is a handwritten inscription in the lower margin: "La Milagrosa imagen de Nª Sª de la Estrella de la Vª Dencisso"
On the back is a sketch of a figure on horseback.
In a carved, gilded and silvered period wooden frame.
The Church of Our Lady of Enciso is located in la Rioja, Spain. In its main altarpiece, which was built between 1647 and 1652, there is the image of Our Lady of the Star, in late 15th century Hispanic Flemish style.
The image of Nuestra Señora de la Estrella de Enciso (Our Lady of the Star of Enciso) became widespread due to the engraving of it which was created by the Flemish printmaker Ana Heylan in the mid 17th century. One of these prints is kept at the National Library in Madrid (Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid).
As Antonio Moreno Garrido explains in his writing "La iconografía de la virgen de la antigua en el grabado granadino del siglo XVII: una plancha inédita de Ana Heylan":
"In the 17th century, single prints and especially those for worship came from European workshops, except for those with very local themes. These, of course, were made by engravers working in Spain. Carrete Parrondo writes: "The sanctuaries, convents and chapels with the most popular or prestigious advocations of Mary commissioned the most outstanding engravers to reproduce the images that were worshiped. The same occurred in small towns, where they turned to the printmakers from large cities. The town of Enciso commissioned Ana Heylan, a Flemish engraver established in Granada, to make the print of their patron, the Virgen de la Estrella"
Bibliography: Antonio Moreno Garrido. "La iconografía de la virgen de la antigua en el grabado granadino del siglo XVII: una plancha inédita de Ana Heylan": Pages. 207 and 209 Fig II.