An allegory of Mount Carmel in a painting by Luis Juarez

Abstract

One of the Marian portents that distinguished the Carmelite order was the conveyance of the scapular to Saint Simon Stock. This privilege distinguished the order from others by giving it special standing. Consequently, this act was reproduced in paintings throughout the Catholic world as part of a legitimizing discourse. In the capital of New Spain, an allegory about it was painted at the beginning of the 17th century. I contend that the elements of this painting achieve an approach to the Carmelite imaginary order of the time when the discourse that sustains it was devised.