Echoes of an Itinerant Image on Both Sides of the Atlantic: The “Pilgrim of Quito” and Her Material and Immaterial Journey throughout the Eighteenth Century

ABSTRACT

In the course of the 18th century, the friars of the Mercedarian convent of Quito collected alms throughout the entire American continent and part of Europe, using a miraculous image of the Virgin of Mercy, who would soon become known as the “Pilgrim of Quito”. As a result of these trips, the image reached a wide diffusion in very different and distant territories, materializing its cult in a vast set of prints, medals, engravings and other devotional objects. In this context, the purpose of this article is to analyze the material and symbolic route of this image in its multiple movements throughout the American and European continent, as well as the mechanisms of diffusion and consolidation of this devotion in the course of its pilgrimage.

Keywords:
Pilgrim of Quito; Marian devotion; Religiosity; Circulation of images; Colonial Latin America