Melchor Pérez Holguín
Pietà (Piedad)circa 1720

Not on view

Oil painting of a pieta scene, central robed woman with a gold halo cradling a wounded man, surrounded by angels in patterned robes against a dark background

Oil painting of three figures against a dark background: a robed woman with a gold radiate halo and elaborately embroidered black and gold mantle gazes upward, supporting the limp, wounded body of a bearded man; a second figure at left holds a lit candle and raises one hand.

Oil painting, close-up devotional portrait of a woman in a black mantle with gilded foliate embroidery, face upturned with a tear on her cheek, encircled by a radiant gold halo rendered with fine radiating lines, against a dark brown background.

Oil painting detail showing two angels in elaborate gold-embroidered robes of green and red, gesturing with hands over a recumbent figure below; fine gilt decorative patterns cover their garments, with additional figures visible in the background.

Oil painting detail showing a winged putto in red and gold brocade drapery, grasping the pale arm of a standing figure; elaborate gold scrollwork pattern visible at right edge.

Oil painting detail showing a small winged putto resting against a recumbent figure with visible wounds, surrounded by richly embroidered gold and red garments, rendered with fine brushwork.

Attributed to: Melchor Pérez Holguín
Bolivia, circa 1660-circa 1732
Title: Pietà (Piedad)
Date Made: circa 1720
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 60 1/4 × 48 7/8 in. (153 × 123 cm); framed: 70 5/8 × 58 1/4 × 3 7/8 in. (179.39 × 147.96 × 9.84 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2019.15
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: https://www.youtube.com/embed/htnR6yTLmwM?controls=0</A>" width="300" height="169" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen>
Provenance: Private collection, Buenos Aires, early 20th century; Juan Carlos Colombano (1930–2015), for his private museum Chavín de Huántar, Buenos Aires, 1965; by inheritance to his son Alejandro Colombano, Buenos Aires, 2015; Cristian Seeber, Buenos Aires, 2016; Jaime Eguiguren Art & Antiques, Buenos Aires, 2016; 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.
"Pathos in Potosí: Ilona Katzew on conserving a Bolivian masterpiece at LACMA" Apollo (March 2020): 87–88.
Ilona Katzew, “LACMA Acquires a Major Work by the Bolivian Painter Melchor Pérez Holguín,” Unframed, December 10, 2019, https://unframed.lacma.org/2019/12/10/lacma-acquires-major-work-bolivian-painter-mélchor-pérez-holguín.
Ilona Katzew, “Melchor Pérez Holguín’s Pietà: A Restoration in Context,” June 8, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htnR6yTLmwM.
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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