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Collections

Juan Correa
Angel Carrying a Cypress (Ángel portando un ciprés)circa 1680-1690

On view:
David Geffen Galleries, Picturing the Divine in Spanish America
Vertical oil painting of a winged angel in a blue robe and burgundy cloak, floating on golden clouds while gripping a tall foliage-covered staff
Oil painting detail of a lower leg encased in ornate reddish-brown armor with gilded scrollwork and gem inlays, white feather trim at the knee, bare toes visible at the foot, against a warm golden-brown background.
Oil painting detail showing two pale hands grasping a large vertical garland of dense dark green foliage against a warm golden sky with soft clouds, with a red and blue draped garment visible at left; smooth, refined brushwork.
Oil painting, close-up of an angel figure with curly auburn hair gazing upward, large dark wing arching overhead, wearing blue and red drapery against a warm golden background with clouds
Oil painting, close-up of a winged angelic figure with curly hair gazing upward, wearing blue and burgundy robes with ornate gold clasps, large feathered wing extending left, warm ochre background.
Artist or Maker
Juan Correa
Mexico, circa 1645-1716
Title
Angel Carrying a Cypress (Ángel portando un ciprés)
Date Made
circa 1680-1690
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Unframed: 63 × 42 1/2 in. (160 × 108.5 cm); framed: 69 1/2 × 49 × 3 1/2 in. (176.53 × 124.46 × 8.89 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number
M.2013.129
Classification
Paintings
Collecting Area
Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes

This painting depicts an angel in a golden cloud carrying a cypress, a symbol associated with the purity of the Virgin. The work probably formed part of an altarpiece devoted to the Immaculate Conception, the belief that Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. The emphasis on mutable materials—the celestial light and the angel’s shot-fabric garment, opalescent boots, and iridescent wings—amplifies the overall mystical sense of the scene and calls attention to the unreliability of sight in apprehending deeper spiritual realities.

The artist Juan Correa was the son of a Spanish surgeon and a freed Black woman. Despite the limitations often placed on people of mixed race in Spanish America, he became one of the most prominent and proficient painters in late seventeenth-century Mexico, as exemplified by his two mural-sized canvases for the sacristy of Mexico City’s cathedral.

Ilona Katzew

2024

Provenance
Robert collection, Nice, France, 1950s; by inheritance to his son Henry Robert, Nice; Carteia Fine Arts, Madrid, 2013; LACMA, 2013.
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, “Now on View: A New Work by the Great Juan Correa,” Unframed, November 5, 2013, https://unframed.lacma.org/2013/11/05/now-on-view-a-new-work-by-the-great-juan-correa.

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. 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

Related Unframed

Related Unframed

Now on View: A New Work by the Great Juan Correa
Now on View: A New Work by the Great Juan Correa
  • November 5, 2013