Allegory of the Crucifixion with Jesuit Saints (Alegoría de la Crucifixión con santos jesuitas)

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Allegory of the Crucifixion with Jesuit Saints (Alegoría de la Crucifixión con santos jesuitas)

Mexico, circa 1770
Paintings
Oil on canvas
Unframed: 32 1/2 × 22 1/4 in. (82.6 × 56.5 cm); framed: 40 3/8 × 33 5/8 × 2 1/2 in. (102.55 × 85.41 × 6.35 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund (M.2016.110.2)
Not currently on public view

Provenance

José Joaquín de Arguinzoniz (b. 1778, Durango, Spain; in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, 1803–c. 1815; returned to Durango, c....
José Joaquín de Arguinzoniz (b. 1778, Durango, Spain; in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, 1803–c. 1815; returned to Durango, c. 1815); or his grandson Joaquín Arguinzoniz y Díez Gutiérrez (1845–1911), San Luis Potosí (property shipped to Durango, c. 1914); by inheritance to Antonio Manuel Arguinzoniz Garay Artabe (b. 1852, Durango) and María del Carmen Arguinzoniz y Olalde (1886–1971, Bilbao, Spain); by inheritance to her daughter María Begoña Díaz de Mendívil Arguinzoniz (1923–2015, b. Vitoria, Spain, d. Madrid); Caylus Anticuario SA, Madrid, 2015; LACMA, 2016.
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Label

This painting of Christ surrounded by saints was likely created for a member of the Jesuit order—presumably the canon on the lower right who gazes at the viewer.

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This painting of Christ surrounded by saints was likely created for a member of the Jesuit order—presumably the canon on the lower right who gazes at the viewer. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the order, kneels in the foreground in front of the pope and opposite the king of Spain, who relinquish their crowns and pay homage to Christ. This type of image might have served a mnemonic function, helping devotees to recall the lives of the saints. It was also a poignant allegory of divine over earthly power.


From exhibition Archive of the World, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Ilona Katzew in the accompanying publication, cat. no. 25, pp. 129–32)
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Bibliography

  • Katzew, Ilona, ed. Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books/D.A.P., 2022.

Exhibition history

  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800 Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800 Nashville, TN, Frist Art Museum, October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024