Antonio de Torres
The Elevation of the Cross (La elevación de la cruz)1718

Not on view

Oil painting of the crucifixion, with multiple figures lifting or steadying a large wooden cross bearing an INRI tablet, surrounded by mourners and Roman soldiers

Oil painting of a crucifixion scene; a male figure on a wooden cross bearing an 'INRI' tablet is supported by two men below, while a crowd including a woman in blue robes and armored soldiers on horseback fills the background, rendered with dramatic chiaroscuro and warm flesh tones against a stormy sky.

Oil painting, close-up detail of two bare-chested men supporting a pale draped figure against a wooden cross, rendered with smooth academic brushwork and warm chiaroscuro; a helmeted figure visible at left edge.

Oil painting, crowded scene with several figures in the foreground: a woman in a blue veil with hands clasped gazes upward, flanked by a youth in red-orange garments and a bare-shouldered man with bowed head; armored soldiers and a white horse visible in the background, rendered with smooth brushwork and warm chiaroscuro.

Oil painting of two male figures in close composition; a bare-chested bearded man carries a large wooden beam while a second figure in red and green drapery pulls a chain attached to the beam, set against a dark rocky landscape with loose, blended brushwork.

Detail of an oil painting showing a painted inscription in cursive Latin script reading "Antt.º de Torres. f.it 1718" against a dark brown background.

Artist or Maker: Antonio de Torres
Mexico, 1667-1731
Title: The Elevation of the Cross (La elevación de la cruz)
Date Made: 1718
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 66 15/16 × 83 1/16 in. (170 × 211 cm); framed: 73 3/4 × 90 3/8 × 2 in. (187.33 × 229.55 × 5.08 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the 2016 Collectors Committee, with additional funds provided by Kelvin Davis
Accession Number: M.2016.149
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: Antonio de Torres was a prolific painter who fulfilled commissions for various orders and was closely affiliated with the Franciscans. He created this monumental painting as part of a Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) series for the Franciscan convent of San Luis Potosí, Mexico. By spotlighting Christ’s and the Virgin’s faces and blending the paint to a high finish (in contrast to the more impressionistic brushstrokes employed for most of the figures), Torres cleverly emphasized their shared sorrow and effectively connected them in the viewer’s eye and imagination.

From exhibition Archive of the World, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Ilona Katzew in the accompanying publication, cat. no. 7, pp. 54–57)
Provenance: Templo de San Francisco de Asís, San Luis Potosí, Mexico, 1718; Joaquín Arguinzoniz y Díez Gutiérrez (1845–1911), San Luis Potosí, 1903 (property shipped to Durango, Spain, c. 1914); by inheritance to Antonio Manuel Arguinzoniz Garay Artabe (b. 1852, Durango) and María del Carmen Arguinzoniz y Olalde (1886–1971, Bilbao, Spain); by inheritance to her daughter María Begoña Díaz de Mendívil Arguinzoniz (1923– 2015, b. Vitoria, Spain, d. Madrid); Caylus Anticuario SA, Madrid, 2015; LACMA, 2016.
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.
Ilona Katew, “New Acquisition: Antonio de Torres, The Elevation of the Cross (Elevación de la cruz),” Unframed, April 25, 2016, https://unframed.lacma.org/2016/04/25/new-acquisition-antonio-de-torres-elevation-cross-elevación-de-la-cruz.
Joseph Fronek, Ilona Katzew, “Antonio de Torres’s The Elevation of the Cross: History and Conservation,” June 18, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU8m_T6X170.
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 . 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 . 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. 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

Monday	11 am–6 pm
Tuesday	11 am–6 pm
Wednesday	Closed
Thursday	11 am–6 pm
Friday	11 am–8 pm
Saturday	10 am–7 pm
Sunday	10 am–7 pm