La Sagrada Familia (The Holy Family)

According to scholar and former Director of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura in Peru, Javier Lamberri, the colors and style in the composition are in keeping with the work of Diego Quispe Tito and his workshop in Cuzco. The Holy Family in a garden perhaps alludes to the Biblical Garden of Eden. Art historian Cecilia Sica, writes that the constant presence of angels that surrounded the Christ Child was a manifestation of Divine will. During the Renaissance, this spirit gave rise to depictions and portrayal of the Holy Child with the Holy Virgin; this was later followed by compositions of the Holy Family with adoring angels or angelic musicians singing the glory of the Savior.

Particularly interesting in the composition and a trait in the Cuzco school painting is the use of exotic birds with brilliantly colored feathers. Clearly iconic elements of the so-called mestizo style of decoration, birds and other New World fauna, were incorporated motifs of the Cuzco school.