We continue with our survey of the colonial painter Pascual Pérez* to look at his works in the city of Puebla, his principal workplace.
San José
In another earlier post we looked at the historic tiled city church of San José and its sumptuous chapel of the Nazarene.The arcaded church interior is replete with numerous late colonial works of art.
We previously lauded the spectacular sequence of gilded baroque altarpieces lining the aisles along the nave as one the finest in Mexico, many featuring outstanding sculptures and paintings by Puebla’s celebrated colonial artists, including the eminent painter Miguel Jerónimo Zendejas among others.
We previously lauded the spectacular sequence of gilded baroque altarpieces lining the aisles along the nave as one the finest in Mexico, many featuring outstanding sculptures and paintings by Puebla’s celebrated colonial artists, including the eminent painter Miguel Jerónimo Zendejas among others.
Our special interest here, however, is in two groups of paintings by the earlier master Pascual Pérez “El Mixtequito,” whose work we saw at San Andrés Cholula.
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| The Raising of the Cross |
The Passion Paintings
Two large canvases by Pérez hang in the vestibule of the main church. These include a Raising of the Cross, after Rubens, and a melancholy Deposition or Lamentation, both signed by the artist and suggestive of his mid career work (circa 1700)
Both paintings employ groups of figures—more dynamic in the Raising canvas—and the use of rich, predominantly red hues.
Two large canvases by Pérez hang in the vestibule of the main church. These include a Raising of the Cross, after Rubens, and a melancholy Deposition or Lamentation, both signed by the artist and suggestive of his mid career work (circa 1700)
Both paintings employ groups of figures—more dynamic in the Raising canvas—and the use of rich, predominantly red hues.
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| The Deposition or Lamentation |
The Virgin Martyrs
A second, rather more unusual series, currently placed in the camarín of the Virgin in San José, comprises six portraits of female martyrs of the early church. Only one is signed by Pérez.
In each case they are pictured graphically suffering their associated torments or gory deaths, posed against dark, obscure backgrounds, while an angel descends with the martyr's crown and palm.
A second, rather more unusual series, currently placed in the camarín of the Virgin in San José, comprises six portraits of female martyrs of the early church. Only one is signed by Pérez.
In each case they are pictured graphically suffering their associated torments or gory deaths, posed against dark, obscure backgrounds, while an angel descends with the martyr's crown and palm.
St. Agatha; St. Bibiana
St. Leocardia (signed) St. Lucy
St. Quiteria; St. Susanna
* Pascual Pérez , "El Mixtequito," was a prolific, leading light in the Pueblan school of painting, active in the later 1600s and early 1700s. His work covers a broad range of religious subjects and is found in churches and collections in the city of Puebla and its environs, including Cholula. His interment in Puebla cathedral attests to his regional prominence at his death in 1731.
text © 2018 Richard D. Perry
our appreciation and grateful acknowledgment of the use of his images go to Tacho Juárez Herrera, who tracked down and photographed most of Pascual Perez' known works.
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