Virgin of El Rocío

[2] The associated annual procession/pilgrimage, known as the Romería de El Rocío, draws roughly a million people each year.

[13] Many scholars have expressed views on the date and authorship of the Virgin of El Rocío, but without reaching any clear consensus.

José María Vázquez Soto, writing in 1997, essentially endorsed this view, although he believes that the clothes date from the 18th century, based on their style.

Juan Infante-Galán Zambrano related the statue to a Saint Anne venerated in a church in Triana, which would also match this date.

However, according to Martínez, other than the face, the upper half was significantly altered to add the clothing and the figure of the Christ child.

[9] Historians Juan Miguel González Gómez and Manuel Jesús Carrasco Terriza, both from Huelva and the latter the designer of the current altarpiece of the Hermitage, date the original statue between 1280 and 1335.

He considers it likely that the statue underwent significant restoration in the early 16th century, which would be consistent with the theory of involvement by Fernández Alemán.