Pedro Ramírez el Mozo
The Marriage of the Virgin (Desposorios de la Virgen)1668

Not on view

Vertical oil painting of three figures: a bearded bishop in ornate vestments and miter joins the hands of a younger man in green and gold robes and a young woman in teal, with a dove descending from glowing clouds above

Oil painting, half-length figure of a woman with long auburn hair wearing a jeweled crown, crimson bodice with gold ornamental trim, and white chemise sleeves; a second figure's hand rests on her shoulder against a cloudy blue-grey background

Oil painting, close-up detail of a bearded figure in green and ochre robes holding a flowering staff with white blossoms, against a stormy gray sky; smooth brushwork with fine detail in the curling auburn hair and delicate petals.

Oil painting detail showing three pairs of hands; a bearded figure at left in green holds a small gold ring, while a third figure at right extends a pale hand with an embroidered sleeve cuff toward an older bearded figure in dark robes with an ornate gilt-framed jeweled panel behind.

Oil painting detail showing a curled paper scroll with handwritten Latin-script inscription reading 'Pedro Rami[rez],' resting on a dark red brocade surface alongside a pink rose and white blossoms at lower right.

Oil painting, close-up portrait of an elderly bearded man wearing a crimson and gold ceremonial mitre and ornate vestments with a jeweled breastplate, set against a cloudy gray-blue sky.

Oil painting, close-up of a bearded man with curly auburn hair, gaze downcast, a jeweled crown partially visible at upper right, hand raised near chest, soft modeling against a gray-blue background.

Oil painting, close-up portrait of a young woman with long auburn hair, head tilted downward, wearing a gold filigree crown with a small cross and a crimson garment with ornate gold and gemstone neckline, against a gray-brown background, with smooth, finely blended brushwork.

Oil painting detail showing two pairs of hands; one figure places a gold ring with a red stone onto the finger of another whose sleeve shows white lace trim, against a dark embroidered surface.

Oil painting detail showing the torso and hands of a figure with long curling auburn hair, wearing a deep crimson bodice adorned with an elaborate gold filigree necklace and pendant, with a white sheer sleeve featuring gold embroidery at the cuff.

Oil painting detail showing a figure's hands resting at the midsection, wearing a crimson bodice with gold-beaded trim, white sleeves with gold embroidery at the cuff, and a teal draped skirt, rendered with smooth blending against a dark background.

Artist or Maker: Pedro Ramírez el Mozo
Mexico, 1638-1679
Title: The Marriage of the Virgin (Desposorios de la Virgen)
Date Made: 1668
Medium: Oil on canvas on panel
Dimensions: Unframed: 75 5/8 × 50 3/8 in. (192.1 × 129 cm); framed: 85 × 60 × 3 1/4 in. (215.9 × 152.4 × 8.26 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2010.97
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: The subject of the Marriage of the Virgin draws on apocryphal accounts of the lives of the saints, such as Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend (c. 1260). An unusual detail are the disembodied hands that descend from heaven to symbolize God’s intervention in human affairs. This element gained currency in Mexico and was repeated by several seventeenth-century painters.

Pedro Ramírez el Mozo (the Younger) descended from a prominent Sevillian family of sculptors and altarpiece makers (ensambladores). The large size of this panel suggests that it might have formed part of a retablo (altarpiece) ensemble.

From exhibition Archive of the World, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Ilona Katzew in the accompanying publication, cat. no. 3, pp. 38–41)
Provenance: Private collection, France, first half of the 20th century; art market, Paris, 1960; María del Carmen de Alfonso Perdomo, Madrid, 1960; Galería Coll & Cortés, Madrid, 2010; LACMA, 2010.
Selected 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.
Ilona Katzew, “Just Acquired: Spanish Colonial Paintings by Ramirez and Aguilera,” Unframed, October 21, 2010, https://unframed.lacma.org/2010/10/21/just-acquired-spanish-colonial-paintings-by-ramirez-and-aguilera.
Selected Exhibition History: Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024

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Tuesday	11 am–6 pm
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Friday	11 am–8 pm
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Sunday	10 am–7 pm