Juan Correa (Mexico City, 1646 - 1716)

Juan Correa (Mexico City, 1646 - 1716).

‘The Indian Juan Diego presenting the Virgin of Guadalupe to the bishop of Mexico Juan de Zumárraga’.

Oil on canvas. Signed and located in Mexico.

28 x 64 cm. 

Juan Correa is considered the principal painter of late 17th-century Mexico. Son of a famous Spanish surgeon and a freed black woman, Correa was one of the few mestizo painters who achieved fame in his time (the art of painting was generally considered the domain of white or Spanish masters). His two large-scale canvases for the sacristy of Mexico City's Cathedral (1691-98), for example, are considered masterpieces of Mexican Baroque.'"

The National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico defines him as "one of the main exponents of the Baroque in Mexico, whose works are characterised by their sumptuousness, detail, and golden tones."

His origins were reflected in his creations, "as his father was a man of African and Spanish descent, and Juan Correa was the first to paint angels with black or brown skin tones and the Virgin Mary with a dark complexion," a fact that "would become an unmistakable hallmark in his creations."

Highlights among his extensive work include "The Coronation of the Virgin" at the National Museum of the Interventions, one of his masterpieces, and the "Expulsion from Paradise" at the National Museum of the Viceroyalty

Our Lady of Guadalupe, venerated in Mexico with great devotion, is the patroness of the country and the most important incarnation of the Virgin Mary in Latin America. Although the Our Lady of Guadalupe from Extremadura (Southern Spain) accompanied the conquistadors in their great adventure to the New World, the Mexican Virgin has her own origins. Both oral tradition and historical documentation, particularly the Nican Mopohua, narrate the different miracles and apparitions of this virgin to the indigenous man baptised with the name Juan Diego (1474-1548) on the hill of Tepeyac in 1531.

According to the legend, there were four appearances of Our Lady of Guadalupe: In the first one, the virgin entrusted Juan Diego to see the bishop Fray Juan de Zumárraga and let him know her will to have a temple built in her honour in the place where she had appeared. Juan Diego obeyed, but the bishop did not believe him. In the second appearance, Juan Diego tells him what happened and asks the Virgin Mary to use another messenger because he was just a poor Indian. The Virgin Mary tells him that it was necessary for him to return to the bishop and repeat the message. Bishop Zumárraga asked him to bring a sign to be sure that it was "the lady from heaven" he was talking about. In the third appearance, the Virgin Mary asked the Indian to go up the hill and cut the flowers he would find there. Juan Diego knew that no flowers grew on that hill, especially not in December, but he found the summit turned into a flowered garden. He cut the flowers and took them to the Virgin Mary in his "ayate" (tunic). Our Lady of Guadalupe instructed him to go back to the Bishop, tell him where he had picked the flowers, and indicate that it was the sign that the Virgin Mary wanted him to build a temple. In the fourth appearance, on December 12, Juan Diego told the bishop everything that had happened, and when he spread out his "ayate", all the roses fell to the ground, and the image of the Virgin Mother of God miraculously appeared on it. After this event, the church was built, and this astonishing image is, according to tradition, zealously guarded by the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

As a result of this event, the worship of Our Lady Guadalupe became enormously prominent, especially within the indigenous sector of the population, becoming one of the most deeply rooted in Mexico and part of its identity. It is not surprising that soon the Mexican devotees wanted to have a copy of this miraculous image, so reproductions and the artists dedicated to creating them proliferated. The fame of this incarnation of the Virgin Mary soon became universal, gaining great veneration throughout Europe, especially in Spain.

This representation of the Virgin of Guadalupe is a faithful rendering of the original, with the subtle variations that each artist can provide. The beautiful Virgin Mary is depicted as standing, crowned and surrounded by a mandorla of sun rays amid a cluster of clouds. She is seated on a crescent moon with the points facing upwards, supported by an angel with colourful eagle wings. She is portrayed as a young woman with a serene face and a lowered gaze reflecting love, tenderness, and respect. With her knee slightly bent, she clasps her hands in prayer in the Western manner. She wears a pink tunic adorned with floral elements and a blue mantle decorated with stars that also covers her head. She wears a ribbon around her belly as Aztec women did during their pregnancies, thus announcing that she is a pregnant woman. The iconographic type clearly derives from that of the Immaculate Conception.

In this case, Our Lady of Guadalupe is depicted without the Apparitions or other ornamental elements that frequently accompany her and can therefore be considered a strictly faithful copy of the original. Most of these faithful copies, which are more iconographically straightforward, correspond to the earliest ones, generally dating from the 17th century. The more elaborate ones, with cartouches representing the apparitions and miracles, elaborate floral frames, views of the city of Mexico, or the inclusion of angels and archangels, are more typical of the 18th century. All these copies carry an implicit message, as most of them were "touched to the original," so the miraculous character was transmitted, making them bearers of her divinity.

"Enconchado" technique, so beloved and used in Mexico, actually has Oriental origins. It is a pictorial technique carried out on wood in which sheets of mother-of-pearl from shells and molluscs are inlaid, combined, and fused with oil paint to complete the image. This allows for the play of iridescence, gleam, sparkle, and subtle light effects that are highly valued.

 

Provenance:

- Former Pedro Vindel collection.

Pedro Vindel was an antiquarian bookseller from Cuenca, as reported by the Royal Academy of History, ‘who became the first Spanish antiquarian bookseller of his time’, with one of the most important collections of books of hours. As the RAH continues, ‘Pedro Vindel, in the style of the great European booksellers, published his catalogues from 1895, and organised several book auctions, in premises rented by him, such as that of 1913, the catalogue of which he had printed. He also initiated what he called ‘graphic bibliography’ in Spain, by including [...] photolithographic reproductions of the covers or other elements of the books in his catalogues’.

For further information, we recommend reading ‘Pedro Vindel: Historia de una librería (1865-1921)’, by Pavl Cid Noé.

 

Bibliographical references:

- Toussaint, M. Pintura colonial en México. Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Mexico, 1965.

- Vargas Lugo, E. "El indio que tenia "el don"..." in Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, no. 86, 2005.

- Sánchez Mariana, Manuel. (n.d.). "Pedro Vindel Álvarez". https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/67005/pedro-vindel-alvarez

- Mediateca Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. (19 de octubre de 2020). "Juan Correa". https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/repositorio/node/5231

- Mediateca Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. (22 de enero de 2022). "Juan Correa, pintor novohispano afrodescendiente". https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/node/5383