Francisco Martínez
Nun’s Badge with the Annunciation and Saints (Medallón de monja con la Anunciación y santos)circa 1750

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Oval painting in a metal frame depicting the Annunciation with a kneeling haloed woman, a winged angel, a descending dove, cloud-borne figures above, and four haloed saints below

Circular miniature painting, cropped view, showing a crowned, haloed female figure in pink and gold robes holding a sword, with a Latin inscription in gold along a curved banner reading 'Franciscus Martinez Sancti Officij Notarius Fec...' A dark-robed figure appears at right; draped figures visible at top.

Circular miniature painting in a dark metal frame, partially cropped; a haloed woman in blue at lower center with hands raised, a haloed male figure holding a child and flowering stem above, a white dove mid-composition, and a robed figure in pink at upper right, rendered in delicate gouache or watercolor with fine detail on a cream ground.

Oval miniature painting, likely gouache or watercolor, depicting multiple religious figures on clouds. A central winged angel in gold and pink drapery holds a lily stem and gestures toward an open book. To the right, a robed figure in blue with a halo attends to small children. Additional haloed figures appear at upper and lower edges, with finely detailed figures in pink robes above.

Artist or Maker: Francisco Martínez
Mexico, 1687-1758
Title: Nun’s Badge with the Annunciation and Saints (Medallón de monja con la Anunciación y santos)
Date Made: circa 1750
Medium: Watercolor on vellum on paper, tortoiseshell frame
Dimensions: Framed: 7 1/2 × 6 1/2 in. (19.1 × 16.5 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2015.142.1
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: In Mexico, badges were a central ornament of a nun’s habit, especially on the day of her profession of vows. The most common themes were the Immaculate Conception and the Annunciation; the perimeter was typically crowded with a choir of saints, which included the most important devotions for the order and cults of particular interest to the owner. Worn close to the body, badges often carried political messages and were painted by the best artists of the day. This example depicts the Annunciation and a host of saints: Joseph and John the Baptist flanking God the Father and the Holy Spirit; Anthony (behind the angel); and Catherine, Gertrude, and Jerome on the lower edge. It is signed on a banderole below the scene of the Annunciation: “Martínez Sancti Officii Notarius Fecit” (Made by Francisco Martínez, notary of the Holy Office). Martínez was a prominent painter from Mexico City who fulfilled many commissions for the Jesuits and was named notary of the Holy Tribunal—a prestigious title that points to his high social standing.

Painted badges originated in Mexico in response to religious reforms introduced by the archbishop Francisco Manso y Zúñiga (r. 1629–35), who attempted to curtail the luxury and privilege of convent life. He forbade nuns to wear shields made of gold, precious stones, and enamel. Nuns circumvented this rule by commissioning shields painted on copper or parchment and set into frames made of tortoiseshell.
Provenance: Private collection, Paris; Galerie Terrades, Paris, 1998; LACMA, 2015.
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.
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
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

Francisco Martínez
Nun’s Badge with the Annunciation and Saints (Medallón de monja con la Anunciación y santos)circa 1750

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Francisco Martínez
Mexico, 1687-1758
Title: Nun’s Badge with the Annunciation and Saints (Medallón de monja con la Anunciación y santos)
Date Made: circa 1750
Medium: Watercolor on vellum on paper, tortoiseshell frame
Dimensions: Framed: 7 1/2 × 6 1/2 in. (19.1 × 16.5 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2015.142.1
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: In Mexico, badges were a central ornament of a nun’s habit, especially on the day of her profession of vows. The most common themes were the Immaculate Conception and the Annunciation; the perimeter was typically crowded with a choir of saints, which included the most important devotions for the order and cults of particular interest to the owner. Worn close to the body, badges often carried political messages and were painted by the best artists of the day. This example depicts the Annunciation and a host of saints: Joseph and John the Baptist flanking God the Father and the Holy Spirit; Anthony (behind the angel); and Catherine, Gertrude, and Jerome on the lower edge. It is signed on a banderole below the scene of the Annunciation: “Martínez Sancti Officii Notarius Fecit” (Made by Francisco Martínez, notary of the Holy Office). Martínez was a prominent painter from Mexico City who fulfilled many commissions for the Jesuits and was named notary of the Holy Tribunal—a prestigious title that points to his high social standing.

Painted badges originated in Mexico in response to religious reforms introduced by the archbishop Francisco Manso y Zúñiga (r. 1629–35), who attempted to curtail the luxury and privilege of convent life. He forbade nuns to wear shields made of gold, precious stones, and enamel. Nuns circumvented this rule by commissioning shields painted on copper or parchment and set into frames made of tortoiseshell.
Provenance: Private collection, Paris; Galerie Terrades, Paris, 1998; LACMA, 2015.
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.
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
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