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

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Picturing the Divine in Spanish America

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’s scenes from the life of the Virgin (see also M.2012.38.1 and M.2016.148) are notable for the unusually large size of the copper plates on which they are painted and for citing European and local source material as part of the creative process. In The Adoration of the Kings, he referenced a major canvas by his predecessor Juan Rodríguez Juárez (1675–1728) in Mexico City’s cathedral. While Rodríguez Juárez had included a self-portrait on the lower left, Enríquez inserted a portrait of Mexico City’s viceroy, Pedro de Castro y Figueroa, duke of La Conquista (1678–1741), gazing out at the viewer.

Enríquez was part of an educated group of painters in Mexico who organized informal art academies and engaged in discussions about the theory and practice of art. He developed a reputation for highly finished oil paintings on copper, such as this one, and used the support extensively throughout his career. The smoothness of copper, when properly prepared, allows for the almost seamless application of paint, imbuing the images with a jewel-like quality that made the material especially attractive to artists and their patrons.

Ilona Katzew

2024
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. “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.
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 . April 24 - July 22, 2018
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. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024

Related Exhibitions

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

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Picturing the Divine in Spanish America

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’s scenes from the life of the Virgin (see also M.2012.38.1 and M.2016.148) are notable for the unusually large size of the copper plates on which they are painted and for citing European and local source material as part of the creative process. In The Adoration of the Kings, he referenced a major canvas by his predecessor Juan Rodríguez Juárez (1675–1728) in Mexico City’s cathedral. While Rodríguez Juárez had included a self-portrait on the lower left, Enríquez inserted a portrait of Mexico City’s viceroy, Pedro de Castro y Figueroa, duke of La Conquista (1678–1741), gazing out at the viewer.

Enríquez was part of an educated group of painters in Mexico who organized informal art academies and engaged in discussions about the theory and practice of art. He developed a reputation for highly finished oil paintings on copper, such as this one, and used the support extensively throughout his career. The smoothness of copper, when properly prepared, allows for the almost seamless application of paint, imbuing the images with a jewel-like quality that made the material especially attractive to artists and their patrons.

Ilona Katzew

2024
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. “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.
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 . April 24 - July 22, 2018
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. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024