The Hidalgo banner is a historical emblem of the Mexican emancipatory struggle. It is an oil painting with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was painted in 1805 by the artist from New Spain Andrés López.
Although it is officially known as the Hidalgo banner, it is also popularly called Hidalgo Painting.
It consists of an unadorned canvas painting mounted on wood, with which the priest Miguel Hidalgo proclaimed the independence of Mexico in 1810. This banner is closely linked to the history of Mexico.
You may also be interested in the flag of Hidalgo.
History
On September 16, 1810, the revolutionary forces arrived at Atotonilco de Guanajuato, led by the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.
At that time, a meeting of several hours was held in the sacristy of the town's parish between those who led the insurgent movement.
Despite the fact that the troops commanded by Ignacio Allende and Juan Aldama already used the Twin Flags of Allende, a discussion arose about which flag the army should fly.
Then, one of the revolutionary ranchers tore the painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe from a wall, tied it to a clothesline pole, and threw it to the priest Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende, so that they could display it in front of the troops as a banner of war.
Seeing the angry crowd in front of him ready to continue the march, the priest Hidalgo ordered that the improvised banner serve as a symbol of the army.
This he did because he considered the inconveniences that the return of the painting to the sanctuary would cause to the insurgent movement.
The original painting that served as Hidalgo's banner is a work by the painter Andrés López. It was painted in 1805 as part of an experiment proposed by the bartolache bachelor.
In this experiment, Bartolache wanted to demonstrate that the Marian image of the Virgin of Guadalupe could not be reproduced with the exactitude and characteristics of the one that rests in the Basilica of Guadalupe.
No painter of the time could match the quality of the image of the Virgin, and each of the copies or replicas of the divine image was called "touched."
Meaning
The banner of Hidalgo (not to be confused with the coat of arms of Hidalgo) currently rests in the National Museum of History of Mexico. It consists of a canvas painted in oil that contains the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
On both sides of the painting there are two shields, with signs and painted flowers. At the bottom it contains two additional triangular shields.
The inhabitants of New Spain, as the current territory of Mexico was previously called, were very religious.
For this reason, the Hidalgo banner had great reception and power of convocation among all social classes: Creole whites, mestizos, Indians and blacks. This encouraged participation in the independence struggle.
The image of the Virgin of Guadalupe became a symbol of freedom and social identity, in which all sectors that opposed the Spanish crown converged.
The independence struggle managed to gather an army of more than 100,000 soldiers.
References
- Historical flags (PDF). Consulted of sedena.gob.mx
- The first flags of the Independence movement. Recovered from dieumsnh.qfb.umich.mx
- La Guadalupana, flag of the insurgents. Consulted of mexicodesconocido.com.mx
- Aldama, Allende and Jiménez, the rebels of two centuries ago. Consulted of excelsior.com.mx
- Banner of Hidalgo. Consulted of es.wikipedia.org
- Flags of Mexico. Consulted of historiadelabanderamexicana.blogspot.com
- The image of Guadalupe in the Sanctuary of Atotonilco. Recovered from cabezadeaguila.blogspot.com