Joaquín Caraballo
Virgin and Child with Saints Francis of Paola, John, and Roch (La Virgen y el Niño con san Francisco de Paula, san Juan y san Roque)1773

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Oil painting of the Virgin and Child enthroned, flanked by two angels and surrounded by three male saints, two kneeling in prayer, with cherubs above

Oil painting detail of a bearded man in a white head covering and tan habit, kneeling and holding a wooden staff, with hands crossed at his chest and a rosary at his waist; figures in blue, teal, and orange robes visible behind him.

Oil painting detail of a nude infant wearing a sheer white veil and a red cord necklace with a small cross, seated on deep blue drapery, surrounded by partially visible adult figures.

Oil painting, close-up of three figures: a tonsured man in dark robes gazing upward at left, a woman in blue and gold robes holding an open pomegranate with red seeds at center, and a bald elderly man in orange robes visible at lower right, rendered with smooth blended brushwork.

Oil painting detail showing an elderly bearded man in brown robes holding out a gold oval medallion on a chain, set with small stones and inscribed with Latin text; bare infant feet and blue drapery visible in the upper background.

Artist or Maker: Joaquín Caraballo
active Bolivia, second half of the 18th century
Title: Virgin and Child with Saints Francis of Paola, John, and Roch (La Virgen y el Niño con san Francisco de Paula, san Juan y san Roque)
Date Made: 1773
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 63 3/8 × 50 9/16 in. (161 × 128.5 cm); framed: 69 × 56 1/2 × 3 in. (175.26 × 143.51 × 7.62 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Nicolás Cortés Gallery
Accession Number: M.2019.334
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: This sacra conversazione (sacred conversation) depicts the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus surrounded by three saints often invoked against disease. From left to right, they are John of God holding a pomegranate, Francis of Paola in brown, and Roch with a dog. They likely held special significance for the inhabitants of Potosí, Bolivia, who suffered several devastating epidemics, including plagues in 1649 and 1719. The composition is animated by uncanny details, such as the meticulously rendered features of the saints and their vestments, the ripe pomegranate, and the rock crystal of Francis of Paola’s reliquary. The figures’ expressiveness and the brilliant color scheme generate much of the picture’s power.

Although little is known about Joaquín Caraballo’s origins, he left behind a small group of canvases that draw on the work of Melchor Pérez Holguín (c. 1660–c. 1732), one of the most notable painters from Bolivia. Despite the painting’s relatively large scale, Caraballo succeeded in creating an intimate and clearly legible portrayal of the celestial vision, intended to inspire charity and yearnings for salvation.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Private collection, Paris, c. 1980–2013; Tessier Sarrou & Associés, Paris, October 25, 2013, lot 32; Galería Coll & Cortés, Madrid, 2013; LACMA, 2019.
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.
Stratton-Pruitt, Suzanne L., ed. The Art of Painting in Colonial Bolivia. Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2017.
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

Joaquín Caraballo
Virgin and Child with Saints Francis of Paola, John, and Roch (La Virgen y el Niño con san Francisco de Paula, san Juan y san Roque)1773

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Joaquín Caraballo
active Bolivia, second half of the 18th century
Title: Virgin and Child with Saints Francis of Paola, John, and Roch (La Virgen y el Niño con san Francisco de Paula, san Juan y san Roque)
Date Made: 1773
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 63 3/8 × 50 9/16 in. (161 × 128.5 cm); framed: 69 × 56 1/2 × 3 in. (175.26 × 143.51 × 7.62 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Nicolás Cortés Gallery
Accession Number: M.2019.334
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: This sacra conversazione (sacred conversation) depicts the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus surrounded by three saints often invoked against disease. From left to right, they are John of God holding a pomegranate, Francis of Paola in brown, and Roch with a dog. They likely held special significance for the inhabitants of Potosí, Bolivia, who suffered several devastating epidemics, including plagues in 1649 and 1719. The composition is animated by uncanny details, such as the meticulously rendered features of the saints and their vestments, the ripe pomegranate, and the rock crystal of Francis of Paola’s reliquary. The figures’ expressiveness and the brilliant color scheme generate much of the picture’s power.

Although little is known about Joaquín Caraballo’s origins, he left behind a small group of canvases that draw on the work of Melchor Pérez Holguín (c. 1660–c. 1732), one of the most notable painters from Bolivia. Despite the painting’s relatively large scale, Caraballo succeeded in creating an intimate and clearly legible portrayal of the celestial vision, intended to inspire charity and yearnings for salvation.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Private collection, Paris, c. 1980–2013; Tessier Sarrou & Associés, Paris, October 25, 2013, lot 32; Galería Coll & Cortés, Madrid, 2013; LACMA, 2019.
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.
Stratton-Pruitt, Suzanne L., ed. The Art of Painting in Colonial Bolivia. Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2017.
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