Saint Francis Appearing before Pope Nicholas V, with Donors (La aparición de san Francisco al Papa Nicolás V, con donantes)

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Saint Francis Appearing before Pope Nicholas V, with Donors (La aparición de san Francisco al Papa Nicolás V, con donantes)

Antonio Montúfar (Spain [?], active Bolivia and Ecuador, 1614-1629)

Bolivia or Ecuador, 1628

Paintings

Oil on canvas

Unframed: 42 1/2 × 34 1/2 in. (108 × 87.6 cm); framed: 50 × 41 3/4 × 3 in. (127 × 106.05 × 7.62 cm)

Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund (M.2008.85)

Latin American Art

Not currently on public view

Provenance

Art market, Vigo, Spain; private collection, Salamanca, Spain, 1998; Valery Taylor Gallery (Valery Taylor Brown), Denver, 2007; LACMA, 2008.

Label

This painting draws on a Franciscan legend that gained currency in the seventeenth century.

...

This painting draws on a Franciscan legend that gained currency in the seventeenth century. In 1449 Pope Nicolas V and a small retinue visited the tomb of Saint Francis in the monastery at Assisi, Italy. In the darkened crypt, the flickering torchlight fell on the miraculously preserved body of the saint, and Nicolas V fell to his knees.

For devotees of Francis, no possibility of contact with the saint existed: none of his relics circulated, and the tomb’s location was a closely guarded secret. Inserting themselves into this sacred space emphasized the donors’ privileged status and their affection for the saint.

From exhibition Archive of the World, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Ilona Katzew in the accompanying publication, cat. no. 1, pp. 32–34)

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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.

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.
Kasl, Ronda, ed. Sacred Spain, Art and Belief in the Spanish World. Exh. Cat. The Indianapolis Museum of Art. Indianapolis, IN. 2009.

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Exhibition history

Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Golden Age Indianapolis, IN, Newfields Museum, October 11, 2009 - January 3, 2010
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

Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Golden Age Indianapolis, IN, Newfields Museum, October 11, 2009 - January 3, 2010
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

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