Andrés de Islas
Portrait of Don Francisco Leandro de Viana, Count of Tepa (Retrato de don Francisco Leandro de Viana, conde de Tepa)circa 1775-1780

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Oil painting portrait, man from the hips up in an ornate orange and brown brocade coat with lace cuffs, powdered gray wig, holding a sword and paper, with a coat of arms and Spanish inscription

Artist or Maker: Andrés de Islas
Mexico, circa 1735-circa 1783
Title: Portrait of Don Francisco Leandro de Viana, Count of Tepa (Retrato de don Francisco Leandro de Viana, conde de Tepa)
Date Made: circa 1775-1780
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 41 1/8 × 33 in. (104.5 × 83.8 cm); framed: 45 3/4 × 37 3/4 × 2 in. (116.21 × 95.89 × 5.08 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2018.186
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: The sitter in this portrait, the Basque-born Don Francisco Leandro de Viana (1730–1804), was a man of high ambition who built a successful career serving the Spanish crown. He wears a fashionable French-style suit made of polychrome ciselé velvet with gold metallic threads (similar to M.2007.211.947a-c). He is portrayed within an oval frame traditionally reserved for important individuals, while his coat of arms is prominently displayed on the upper right. In his right hand he holds a piece of paper that reads “To my Lord the King,” which references his status as an adviser to the king.

During his decade-long role as attorney of the high court of Manila in the Philippines, Viana introduced a series of reforms designed to increase royal revenue and police the collection of import and export taxes connected with the legendary Spanish trading vessels known as the Manila Galleons. He arrived in Mexico in 1758 as a judge of the high court. Profoundly invested in projecting an image of social respectability, he commissioned this portrait to commemorate his new title as count of Tepa (1775). Following his appointment to the Council of the Indies (1776) and membership in the Order of Charles III (1780), he had the inscription altered to record his new titles. This example demonstrates how paintings were living artifacts that could be changed, reactivated, and even silenced to suit varying circumstances and convey particular messages—in this case, to better record the illustrious background and ascending power of this important royal bureaucrat.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Francisco Leandro de Viana, first Count of Tepa (1730–1804), 1775, Mexico and Madrid; by descent to multiple family members, Madrid, 18th–20th centuries; private collection, Dax, France, 1968; Carteia Fine Arts, 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.
Katzew, Ilona. “Trastoques y elipsis en un retrato de tornaviaje: La ductilidad de los mensajes.” In Tornaviaje: Tránsito artístico entre los virreinatos americanos y la metrópolis, edited by Fernando Quiles, Fernando, Pablo F. Amador Marrero, and Martha Fernández. Seville: Universo Barroco Iberoamericano, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 2020, pp. 13–32.
Ilona Katzew, “Objects Talk: A Portrait of a Count with Lofty Ambitions,” Unframed, September 22, 2022, https://unframed.lacma.org/2022/09/22/objects-talk-portrait-count-lofty-ambitions.
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

Andrés de Islas
Portrait of Don Francisco Leandro de Viana, Count of Tepa (Retrato de don Francisco Leandro de Viana, conde de Tepa)circa 1775-1780

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Andrés de Islas
Mexico, circa 1735-circa 1783
Title: Portrait of Don Francisco Leandro de Viana, Count of Tepa (Retrato de don Francisco Leandro de Viana, conde de Tepa)
Date Made: circa 1775-1780
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 41 1/8 × 33 in. (104.5 × 83.8 cm); framed: 45 3/4 × 37 3/4 × 2 in. (116.21 × 95.89 × 5.08 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2018.186
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: The sitter in this portrait, the Basque-born Don Francisco Leandro de Viana (1730–1804), was a man of high ambition who built a successful career serving the Spanish crown. He wears a fashionable French-style suit made of polychrome ciselé velvet with gold metallic threads (similar to M.2007.211.947a-c). He is portrayed within an oval frame traditionally reserved for important individuals, while his coat of arms is prominently displayed on the upper right. In his right hand he holds a piece of paper that reads “To my Lord the King,” which references his status as an adviser to the king.

During his decade-long role as attorney of the high court of Manila in the Philippines, Viana introduced a series of reforms designed to increase royal revenue and police the collection of import and export taxes connected with the legendary Spanish trading vessels known as the Manila Galleons. He arrived in Mexico in 1758 as a judge of the high court. Profoundly invested in projecting an image of social respectability, he commissioned this portrait to commemorate his new title as count of Tepa (1775). Following his appointment to the Council of the Indies (1776) and membership in the Order of Charles III (1780), he had the inscription altered to record his new titles. This example demonstrates how paintings were living artifacts that could be changed, reactivated, and even silenced to suit varying circumstances and convey particular messages—in this case, to better record the illustrious background and ascending power of this important royal bureaucrat.

Ilona Katzew

2024
Provenance: Francisco Leandro de Viana, first Count of Tepa (1730–1804), 1775, Mexico and Madrid; by descent to multiple family members, Madrid, 18th–20th centuries; private collection, Dax, France, 1968; Carteia Fine Arts, 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.
Katzew, Ilona. “Trastoques y elipsis en un retrato de tornaviaje: La ductilidad de los mensajes.” In Tornaviaje: Tránsito artístico entre los virreinatos americanos y la metrópolis, edited by Fernando Quiles, Fernando, Pablo F. Amador Marrero, and Martha Fernández. Seville: Universo Barroco Iberoamericano, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 2020, pp. 13–32.
Ilona Katzew, “Objects Talk: A Portrait of a Count with Lofty Ambitions,” Unframed, September 22, 2022, https://unframed.lacma.org/2022/09/22/objects-talk-portrait-count-lofty-ambitions.
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