Nicolás Enríquez
The Adoration of the Kings with Viceroy Pedro de Castro y Figueroa, Duke of La Conquista (La adoración de los reyes con el virrey Pedro de Castro y Figueroa, duque de la Conquista)1741

Not on view

Vertical oil painting of the Adoration of the Magi, with a large crowd of richly dressed figures approaching a seated mother and child beneath ruined stone arches and a thatched shelter

Oil painting of a military procession through a rocky mountain pass, with soldiers in ancient dress carrying spears and red banners alongside horses draped in red cloth; a second group of armored figures observes from a rocky ledge above, rendered in warm earth tones with fluid brushwork.

Oil painting detail of a crowded processional scene; a central figure in a white and red embroidered doublet with gold chain and turban-style crown stands amid a group of adults and children, two small attendants carrying his red draped cloak; architectural ruins and horses visible in the background, with smooth brushwork and warm earth tones.

Oil painting of four helmeted soldiers in classical dress carrying an ornate jeweled casket on red cloth, with a crown and scepter visible on the ground behind them; richly embroidered drapery at upper left, warm earth tones with loose brushwork.

Oil painting of the Adoration of the Magi; a seated woman in blue robes holds an infant while an elderly man in an embroidered floral robe kneels before her; a group of richly dressed figures including a man in red and gold armor stands at left; soldiers and a child appear in the foreground.

Detail of a dark-ground oil painting showing a painted Latin inscription in golden-yellow lettering reading 'Nicolaus Emrriquez Fac.t Anno Dni. 1741.'

Artist or Maker: Nicolás Enríquez
Mexico, 1704-circa 1790
Title: The Adoration of the Kings with Viceroy Pedro de Castro y Figueroa, Duke of La Conquista (La adoración de los reyes con el virrey Pedro de Castro y Figueroa, duque de la Conquista)
Date Made: 1741
Medium: Oil on copper
Dimensions: Unframed: 41 5/16 × 32 7/8 in. (105 × 83.5 cm); framed: 49 1/4 × 40 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (125.1 × 102.87 × 6.99 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Kelvin Davis, Lynda and Stewart Resnick, Kathy and Frank Baxter, Beth and Josh Friedman, and Jane and Terry Semel through the 2012 Collectors Committee
Accession Number: M.2012.38.2
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: 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 (https://collections.lacma.org/node/600716" >M.2012.38.1) cites a composition by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), while The Visitation (https://collections.lacma.org/node/2158022" >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.

From exhibition Archive of the World, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Ilona Katzew and Aaron M. Hyman in the accompanying publication, cat. no. 63, pp. 250–56)
Provenance: Vicente Sánchez, Valencia, Spain, late 19th–early 20th century; by inheritance to his wife, María Pilar González Sánchez, Madrid; by inheritance to private collection, Madrid; Galería Coll & Cortés, Madrid, 2012; LACMA, 2012.
Selected Bibliography: 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.
Ilona Katzew, “New Acquisition: Two Paintings by Nicolás Enríquez,” Unframed, April 25, 2012, https://unframed.lacma.org/2012/04/25/new-acquisition-two-paintings-by-nicolas-enriquez.
Selected Exhibition History: Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici . Sunday, November 19, 2017 - Sunday, March 18, 2018
Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici . Sunday, November 19, 2017 - Sunday, March 18, 2018
Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici . April 24 - July 22, 2018
Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici . April 24 - July 22, 2018
Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici . June 29 - October 15, 2017
Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici . June 29 - October 15, 2017
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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