(Our Lady of the Rosary) / 1759 / Copper engraving on silk / 62.5 x 48.5 cm / Artist: Lorenzo Atlas (previously identified as Laureano but with recent evidence seems to be Laurentsius in Latin or Lorenzo in Spanish) / Intramuros Administration collection

Atlas’s most intricate work, Nuestra Señora del Rosario is a symbolic composition showing on the upper plane the statue of the Nuestra Señora del Rosario de la Naval (Our Lady of the Rosary of La Naval) venerated at the Santo Domingo Church in Intramuros, surrounded by vignettes of the 15 Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. On the lower plane is the altar of a church bounded by the communion rail; behind the rail Dominican friars kneel on both sides of the Virgin. Figures are represented in a scale according to importance; thus the statue of the Virgin is the largest, the monks second, and the acolytes in front of the altar smallest. The elaborately designed altar frontal is flanked by side tables with a sphinx for support.

Tremendous labor was put into the execution of details as made evident by the stippling to obtain the minutest details of the embroidery designs on the Virgin’s robe and cape. There are no large areas of hatching, which often help to fill up space; rather, individual lines form the figures in the scenes of the Mysteries and their ornate rocaille frames.