Nicolás Enríquez was a member of the first academy of painters established in Mexico around 1722. This set stands out for the unusually large size of the copper plates and for quoting local and European sources. The Marriage of the Virgin (M.2012.38.1) cites a composition by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), while The Visitation (M.2016.148) adapts a print in Jerónimo Nadal’s Evangelicae historiae imagines (1593–94), an influential Jesuit text.

In the Adoration of the Kings, Enríquez referenced a major work in Mexico City’s cathedral by his predecessor Juan Rodríguez Juárez—notably, the treasure-chest-wielding figure portrayed from behind (which in turn drew on a famous print of the Battles of Alexander) by Bernard Picart (1673–1733). Additional details, such as the small children, evoke yet another print in Nadal’s book of the same subject. By referencing these works, Enríquez asserted the significance of local and European traditions alike in the creative process of New Spanish painters.

• Katzew, Ilona. “Valiant Styles: New Spanish Painting, 1700–1785.” In Painting in Latin America, 1550–1820, edited by Luisa Elena Alcalá and Jonathan Brown. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014, pp. 148–203.
• Katzew, Ilona, ed. Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Mexico City: Fomento Cultural Banamex; New York: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2017.
• 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.

• Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, November 19, 2017 - March 18, 2018
• Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici New York, NY, Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 24, 2018 - July 22, 2018
• Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici Mexico City, Mexico, Fomento Cultural Banamex, June 29, 2017 - October 15, 2017
• 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