Baltasar de Echave Ibía
The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (El martirio de santa Catalina de Alejandría)1642

On view:

Geffen Galleries, The Iberian World: From Spain to Spanish America

Vertical oil painting depicting a heavenly figure surrounded by angels in radiant clouds above a crowded earthly scene of figures in Roman armor collapsing around wooden crosses

Oil painting of a chaotic battle scene; a central male figure in green tunic and white loincloth lunges forward gripping a large shield, surrounded by fallen and cowering figures, with flames, soldiers, and a distant cityscape in the background; detailed figures rendered with fine brushwork.

Oil painting with dramatic chiaroscuro lighting; a winged angel descends toward a kneeling woman in white and ochre drapery who gazes upward with arms raised; flames and onlooking figures fill the dark background; prostrate figures in the foreground.

Oil painting of a bearded male figure in pale robes seated on clouds, holding a crown and palm frond, surrounded by cherubs and angels against a luminous radiant background.

Oil painting of a tumultuous battle scene under a stormy, rain-swept sky; armored figures and soldiers crowd the foreground amid scattered banners and spears, with a hilltop fortress and buildings receding into the dark, turbulent background; loose, animated brushwork throughout.

Artist or Maker: Baltasar de Echave Ibía
Mexico, circa 1595-1644
Title: The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (El martirio de santa Catalina de Alejandría)
Date Made: 1642
Medium: Oil on copper
Dimensions: Unframed: 33 7/16 × 25 3/8 in. (85 × 64.5 cm); framed: 44 3/4 × 37 × 4 in. (113.67 × 93.98 × 10.16 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2018.178
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: This painting depicts a key episode in the life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. In the early fourth century, she was condemned to death on a spiked breaking wheel after defying the pagan emperor Maxentius. Because of her erudition, Catherine was named patron saint of Mexico’s university at the end of the sixteenth century, and her willingness to espouse Christianity turned her into a religious exemplum. Baltasar de Echave Ibía descended from a prominent dynasty of Spanish painters; his spirited composition, with fiery lightning bolts darting from the sky, was considered a novelty in his day.

From exhibition Archive of the World, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Ilona Katzew in the accompanying publication, cat. no. 2, pp. 35–37)
Provenance: Galerías La Granja, Mexico City; Manuel Santaella, Caracas, c. 1943; by inheritance to his daughter Cristina Santaella Sequeira, Caracas; by inheritance to her son José Manuel Sequeira Santaella, Caracas; Manuel Piñanes, Madrid, 2018; LACMA, 2018.
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.
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

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