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Collections

Nicolás Enríquez
The Visitation and the Birth of Saint John the Baptist (La visitación y el nacimiento de san Juan Bautista)1746

On view:
David Geffen Galleries, Picturing the Divine in Spanish America
Vertical oil painting with a split composition: a courtyard scene showing angels on clouds above figures greeting each other, and an adjacent interior room with attendants gathered around a canopied bed
Oil painting of four figures in an interior with tiled floor. A woman in blue and red robes bends toward a kneeling figure in orange and gray; a small white dog lies on the floor between them. Two men in red garments stand in the background, one bearded and elderly with a staff.
Oil painting of five winged figures among clouds: two larger angels in orange-red and gold robes at left and right, a smaller angel holding an open book at center top, and two cherubs below holding a ribbon scroll inscribed "MAGNIFICAT ANIMA MEA DOMINUM" in Latin. A rooftop is visible in the lower left corner.
Detail of an oil painting showing a flat brown surface with two lines of painted Spanish script in white lettering, reading a date of July 8, 1746, with additional partially legible text referencing "Láminas" and "Enríquez en Mex"
Oil painting detail of a small gray cat curled with tail wrapped around its body, rendered in fine brushwork against a warm brown wooden floor with diagonal lines.
Oil painting detail of five figures in biblical-era dress gathered near a stone ledge; a woman in teal drapery gestures toward a large bronze vessel at right, while others look upward; a silver goblet and plate rest on the ledge in the foreground.
Oil painting detail of a figure in a white blouse and rust-red skirt kneeling before a fireplace with glowing embers, holding a cloth over iron andirons; a second figure in blue drapery is partially visible at right.
Oil painting of an interior birth scene with several figures gathered around a woman reclining in a canopied bed draped in red. A woman in blue holds a swaddled infant at left; an elderly man with a walking staff leans toward the bed; a youth carries a cup at right. A child with a basin kneels in the foreground. Rich colors and smooth brushwork throughout.
Artist or Maker
Nicolás Enríquez
Mexico, 1704-circa 1790
Title
The Visitation and the Birth of Saint John the Baptist (La visitación y el nacimiento de san Juan Bautista)
Date Made
1746
Medium
Oil on copper
Dimensions
Unframed: 41 3/4 × 33 1/4 in. (106.5 × 84.5 cm); framed: 48 13/16 × 40 3/16 × 1 9/16 in. (124 × 102 × 4 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number
M.2016.148
Classification
Paintings
Collecting Area
Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes

Nicolás Enríquez’s scenes from the life of the Virgin (see also M.2012.38.1 and M.2012.38.2) are notable for the unusually large size of the copper plates on which they are painted and for citing European and local source material as part of the creative process. The Visitation and the Birth of Saint John the Baptist adapts a print in Jerónimo Nadal’s Evangelicae historiae imagines (1593–94), an influential Jesuit text. On the left, Enríquez depicts the Virgin’s visit to her older cousin Elizabeth—their tender embrace flanked by Saints Joseph and Zachariah—and, on the right, the birth of John the Baptist. He also introduced a number of decorative details, including the lavish bedding and the carpet under the bed, along with quotidian elements, such as the dog leaping to welcome the Virgin and the female servant holding a cup and saucer.

Enríquez was part of an educated group of painters in Mexico who organized informal art academies and engaged in discussions about the theory and practice of art. He developed a reputation for highly finished oil paintings on copper, like this one, and used the support extensively throughout his career. The smoothness of copper, when properly prepared, allows for the almost seamless application of paint, imbuing the images with a jewel-like quality that made the material especially attractive to artists and their patrons.

Ilona Katzew

2024

Provenance
Julio Enrique Domingo López (d. 2013), Alcobendas, Spain; bequested as the López y Manzano Collection to the city of Alcobendas, 2013; Abalarte Subastas, Madrid, February 10–12, 2016, lot 312; Carteia Fine Arts, Madrid, 2016; 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.
Selected Exhibition History
  • Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici . June 29 - October 15, 2017
  • 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

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