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Miguel Mateo Maldonado y Cabrera (1695–1768) was a
Mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...
painter born in Oaxaca but moved to
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley ...
, the capital of Viceroyalty of New Spain. During his lifetime, he was recognized as the greatest painter in all of New Spain. He created religious and secular art for the Catholic Church and wealthy patrons. His
casta () is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish Empire in the Americas it also refers to a now-discredited 20th-century theoretical f ...
paintings, depicting interracial marriage among Amerindians, Spaniards and Africans, are considered among the genre's finest. Cabrera's paintings range from tiny works on copper to enormous canvases and wall paintings. He also designed altarpieces and funerary monuments.


Biography

Cabrera was born in Antequera, today's
Oaxaca, Oaxaca Oaxaca de Juárez (), also Oaxaca City or simply Oaxaca (Valley Zapotec: ''Ndua''), is the capital and largest city of the eponymous Mexican state Oaxaca. It is the municipal seat for the surrounding Municipality of Oaxaca. It is in the Centro ...
, and moved to
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley ...
in 1719. He may have studied under the Rodríguez Juárez brothers or José de Ibarra. Cabrera was a favorite painter of Archbishop Manuel José Rubio y Salinas, whose portrait he twice painted, and of the
Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...
, which earned him many commissions. In 1 he created an important analytical study of the icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe, ''Maravilla americana y conjunto de raras maravillas observadas con la dirección de las reglas del arte de la pintura'' (1756) ("American marvel and ensemble of rare wonders observed with the direction of the rules of the art of painting", often referred to in English simply as ''American Marvel''). Cabrera and a group of six other painters analyzed the painting, with scientific eyes, not religious, identifying four different substances used in the painting: "oil, tempera with agglutinates, an ''aguazo'', and a fresco-like tempera." In Cabrera's assessment, no painter was capable of using such techniques in the eighteenth century, much less in the sixteenth century, when the image was created. Cabrera was concerned that there was a proliferation of inferior copies of the painting, and let it be known that the noted seventeenth-century painter, Juan Correa, used a waxed paper template of the image, so that down to the last detail, copies were faithful to the original. Cabrera's atelier created many copies of the image, some of which were signed by Cabrera himself. He sought faithfulness to the original image but to add luster and power to the copies, some paintings had the notation "touched to the original," 'Tocada a su Original''with the date. In 1752 he was again permitted access to the
icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...
of
Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe ( es, Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions, which are believed t ...
to make three copies with the aid of fellow painters, José de Alcíbar and José Bentura Arnáez. The copies were for his patron Archbishop José Manuel Rubio y Salinas, one for Pope Benedict XIV, and a third to use "as a model for further copies." The essential purpose of '' Maravilla Americana'' was to affirm the 1666 opinions of the witnesses who swore that the image of the Virgin was of a miraculous nature. However, he also elaborated a novel opinion: the image was crafted with a unique variety of techniques. He contended that the Virgin's face and hands were painted in oil paint, while her tunic,
mandorla A mandorla is an almond-shaped aureola, i.e. a frame that surrounds the totality of an iconographic figure. It is usually synonymous with '' vesica'', a lens shape. Mandorlas often surround the figures of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary in t ...
, and the cherub at her feet were all painted in egg tempera. Finally, her mantle was executed in
gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache ...
. He observed that the golden rays emanating from the Virgin seemed to be of dust that was woven into the very fabric of the canvas, which he asserted was of "a coarse weave of certain threads which we vulgarly call ''pita,''" a cloth woven from palm fibers. His involvement in the analysis of the Guadalupe image was part of his long term campaign to raise the status of painters from mere artisans to respected practitioners of the liberal arts. It came at the same time that Mexican archbishop Manuel José Rubio y Salinas (1749-1765) sought the designation of the Virgin of Guadalupe as a universal patron. Jesuit Francisco López was the advocate in Rome for her cause. Benedict XIV recognized Guadalupe with her own feast day, starting in 1754. In 1753, he founded the second Academy of Painting in Mexico City and served as its director. Most of the rest of his works are also religious in nature; as the official painter of the Archbishop of Mexico, Cabrera painted his and other portraits. In 1760, Cabrera created ''The Virgin of the Apocalypse,'' which describes the chapter 12 of the
Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book o ...
. He is also known for his posthumous portrait of the seventeenth-century poet
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Sor may refer to: * Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer * Sor, Ariège, a French commune * SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer * Sor, Azerbaijan, a village * Sor, Senegal, an offshore island * Sor River, a river in t ...
. Cabrera is currently most famous for his
casta () is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish Empire in the Americas it also refers to a now-discredited 20th-century theoretical f ...
paintings. One of the sixteen in the set that was missing for many years was purchased by the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...
in 2015. The museum received information that the last of the sixteen, thought lost, may be in Los Angeles, California.An 18th century masterpiece appears to be hiding in L.A.
''Los Angeles Times'' 22 October 2017, front page. accessed 18 November 2017. In the 19th century, the writer José Bernardo Couto called him "the personification of the great artist and of the painter par excellence; and a century after his death the supremacy which he knew how to merit remains intact." His remains are interred at the Church of Santa Inés in Mexico City.


Gallery

File:De_español_y_mestiza,_castiza.jpg, A
casta () is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish Empire in the Americas it also refers to a now-discredited 20th-century theoretical f ...
painting, here he shows a Español (Spanish) father,
Mestiza (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though the ...
(mixed Spanish-Indian) mother, and their Castiza daughter File:Cabrera Pintura de Castas.jpg, Image:Cabrera 15 Coyote.jpg, A
casta () is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish Empire in the Americas it also refers to a now-discredited 20th-century theoretical f ...
painting, ''De Mestizo y d'India;
Coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological n ...
'', 1763, oil on canvas, Waldo-Dentzel Art Center Image:Miguel Cabrera - Allegory of the Virgin Patroness of the Dominicans - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Allegory of the Virgin Patroness of the Dominicans'' Image:Juan-Diego.jpg,
Juan Diego Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, also known as Juan Diego (; 1474–1548), was a Chichimec peasant and Marian visionary. He is said to have been granted apparitions of the Virgin Mary on four occasions in December 1531: three at the hill of Tepeyac a ...
Image:Virgen del Apocalipsis - Miguel Cabrera.jpg, Virgin of the Apocalypse Image:La Visitación - Miguel Cabrera.jpg, The Visitation File:Miguel_Cabrera_-_The_Divine_Shepherdess_(La_divina_pastora)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg, The divine shepherdess, around 1760 Image:La Adoración de los Reyes - Miguel Cabrera.jpg, The Adoration of the Kings Image:Miguel Cabrera - Don Juan Xavier Joachín Gutiérrez Altamirano Velasco - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Don Juan Xavier Joachín Gutiérrez Altamirano Velasco, Count of Santiago de Calimaya'', ca. 1752. Oil on canvas
Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown ...
Image:Miguel Cabrera - Doña María de la Luz Padilla y (Gómez de) Cervantes - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Doña María de la Luz Padilla y Gómez de Cervantes'', ca. 1760. Oil on canvas.
Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown ...
Image:Manuel José Rubio y Salinas.jpg, Image:La Huida a Egipto - Miguel Cabrera.jpg,
The Flight into Egypt The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 2:13– 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the ...
Image:Miguel Cabrera, Santa Gertrudis, 1763 Mexico.jpg, Image:San Francisco Javier - Miguel Cabrera.jpg, St. Francis Xavier File:Miguel_Cabrera_-_Saint_Ignatius_Loyola_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg, Miguel Cabrera.
St. Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...
File:Sor Juana by Miguel Cabrera.png,
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Sor may refer to: * Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer * Sor, Ariège, a French commune * SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer * Sor, Azerbaijan, a village * Sor, Senegal, an offshore island * Sor River, a river in t ...
, Mexican nun and savante, posthumous portrait, oil on canvas, 1750 Image:La Anunciación - Miguel Cabrera.png, The Annunciation Image:'The Marriage of the Virgin' by Miguel Cabrera, 1737.jpg, The Marriage of the Virgin


See also

* Casta painting *
Mexican art Various types of visual arts developed in the geographical area now known as Mexico. The development of these arts roughly follows the history of Mexico, divided into the prehispanic Mesoamerican era, the colonial period, with the period after M ...


References


Further reading

*Bailey, Gauvin Alexander. ''Art of Colonial Latin America''. London: Phaidon Press 2005. * Carrillo y Gariel, Abelardo. ''El pintor Miguel Cabrera''. México, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1966. * Castro Mantecón, Javier; Manuel Zárate Aquino''Miguel Cabrera, pintor oaxaqueño del siglo XVIII,''. México, Instituto Nacional de Antropología 41579exas Press 1967. * Katzew, Ilona. ''Casta Painting''. New Haven:
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universit ...
2004. * Peterson, Jeanette Favrot. ''Visualizing Guadalupe''. Austin: University of Texas Press 2014. * Toussaint, Manuel. ''Colonial Art in Mexico''. Translated and edited by Elizabeth Wilder Weisman. Austin: University of Texas Press 1967.


External links


''Historia del Convento de Sta. Ines y creación del Museo JLC,''; Beatriz del Carmen Cuevas

Maravilla Americana
at Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabrera, Miguel Colonial Mexico Zapotec people Mestizo painters 18th-century Mexican painters 18th-century male artists Mexican male painters Mexican male writers Artists from Oaxaca Writers from Oaxaca 1695 births 1768 deaths Latin American artists of indigenous descent 18th-century indigenous painters of the Americas 18th-century Indigenous Mexican painters People of New Spain Religious painters