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Collections

Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz
Porus in Battle (La batalla de Poro)circa 1767

On view:
David Geffen Galleries, Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz: Seascapes and Copies
Horizontal oil painting of a large battle scene with war elephants, mounted soldiers in red cloaks, and fallen figures, with a decorative cartouche held by cherubs at the bottom center
Oil painting of a crowded battle scene with soldiers in ancient armor, a central commander in orange cloak gesturing amid fallen horses, an elephant at lower left, tents and palm trees in the background under a pale sky.
Oil painting detail of a battle scene; a bare-chested male figure grapples with an armored figure amid fallen and rearing horses, rendered in warm earth tones with smooth Baroque brushwork.
Oil painting detail showing two putti flanking an ornate gilded cartouche with a blue field containing a Latin inscription; left putto holds a spear and quiver of arrows, right putto holds a shield and lance; figures in clouds above.
Oil painting of a battle scene; in the foreground, an armored figure in blue and yellow subdues a fallen bare-chested man with a raised sword, while soldiers bearing shields, spears, and banners crowd the middle ground beneath a distant encampment.
Artist or Maker
Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz
Mexico, 1713-1772
Title
Porus in Battle (La batalla de Poro)
Date Made
circa 1767
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Unframed: 33 3/8 × 49 7/8 in. (84.8 × 126.7 cm); framed: 42 3/4 × 59 1/4 × 4 in. (108.59 × 150.5 × 10.16 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number
M.2021.15
Classification
Paintings
Collecting Area
Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes

Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz created at least two sets of paintings of the battles of the Macedonian king Alexander the Great (r. 336–323 BCE). He modeled them after French academic works by Charles Le Brun (1619–1690), which served as a metaphor for the reign of Louis XIV (1643–1715). Widely known through a series of prints, the works were referenced by multiple Mexican painters throughout the eighteenth century. Morlete adhered closely to the source material but added the putti, or winged infants, on a plinth jutting from a stone ledge at the bottom of the painting. This clever demarcation of space draws attention to the composition’s double form of artifice—a European painting that served as a model.

Quoting from, modifying, and elaborating on these scenes proved Morlete Ruiz’s virtuosity and allowed him to position himself in relation to a transatlantic community of artists with shared intellectual interests.

Ilona Katzew

2024

Provenance
Rafael Cabello de Alba (1925–2010), Madrid; Manuel Garzón Muñoz, Madrid, c. 1960s; Filippo Ziti and Cesare Zaghini, Madrid, 2001; Christie’s, New York, January 2021; LACMA, 2021.
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. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
  • 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 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024

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