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Collections

Vicente Albán
Noble Woman with Her Black Slave (Señora principal con su negra esclava)circa 1783

On view:
Geffen Galleries, Spanish America at the Center of the World
Oil painting of two full-length women standing outdoors surrounded by tropical fruit trees, with a large basket of fruit on a plinth to the left and a Spanish text cartouche at lower left
Oil painting still life of red and brown tropical fruits piled in a wicker basket, several cut open to reveal pale interiors, with letter labels A–D marking botanical details; trees and cloudy sky in the background.
Oil painting of two full-length figures standing outdoors before a blue sky with tropical trees. At right, a light-skinned woman wears an elaborate layered skirt in red, white, and gold with lace trim, pearl accessories, and a flower-adorned hat held at her side. At left, a darker-skinned figure in simpler dress holds a tray. Letters A and B appear in the background.
Artist or Maker
Vicente Albán
Ecuador, active 1769-1796
Title
Noble Woman with Her Black Slave (Señora principal con su negra esclava)
Date Made
circa 1783
Medium
Oil on canvas; from a set of 6
Dimensions
Unframed: 32 × 41 3/4 in. (81.3 × 106 cm); framed: 36 1/4 × 47 × 1 3/4 in. (92.08 × 119.38 × 4.45 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number
M.2014.89.1
Classification
Paintings
Collecting Area
Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes

This painting and its companion (see https://collections.lacma.org/node/2092281" >M.2014.89.2) present richly dressed figures next to giant tropical fruits to symbolize the abundance of the land. Such images participated in a long tradition in Europe of representing non-Western peoples, and the precise botanical renditions responded to taxonomic impulses fostered by the Enlightenment.

Here, the Spanish figure wears a luxurious regional ensemble, including a petticoat (pollera) decorated with gold and silver (now tarnished), pearls (associated with New World riches), and a crucifix and oval reliquary (to signal that she is Catholic and hence “civilized”). Her enslaved companion is more modestly bedecked and portrayed barefoot to emphasize their different social status.


From exhibition Archive of the World, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Ilona Katzew in the accompanying publication, cat. no. 44, pp. 205–10)

Provenance

Addison Mizner, Palm Beach, Florida, c. 1920; William Gray Warden (Warden House), West Palm Beach, Florida, 1922; Benjamin and Gertrude Shapiro, Palm Beach, Florida, 1945; by inheritance to their granddaughter Sheryl Greenberg, 1969–70; Sotheby’s, New York, May 28–29, 2014, lot 60; LACMA, 2014.

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: LACMA’s New Vicente Albán Paintings from Ecuador,” Unframed, January 28, 2015, https://unframed.lacma.org/2015/01/28/now-view-lacmas-new-vicente-albán-paintings-ecuador.

  • Joseph Franek, Ilona Katzew, “Restoring LACMA’s New Vincente Albán Paintings from Ecuador,” Unframed, February 4, 2015, https://unframed.lacma.org/2015/02/04/restoring-new-vicente-alban.

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