Pascual Pérez: The Triumph of the Church

We continue our series on the Pueblan painter Pascual Pérez with a look at one of his most ambitious and heroic works.

El Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria y de Guadalupe

Built by Tlaxcalan artisans between 1618 and 1642) the Temple of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria y de Guadalupe is located in a colonial barrio of the city of Puebla. Orange painted towers flank its sober baroque facade, cut from gray stone in classic poblano style.

Several gilded altarpieces, fashioned in ornate late baroque style line the walls of the nave and side chapels, together with a number of large individual paintings of quality.

Our chief interest here is a large canvas, hung in the apse beside the main retablo, depicting the Triumph of the Church and Eucharist, currently attributed to Pascual Pérez.* 
   Based, like most Mexican versions of the theme, on the celebrated 1626 composition by Peter Paul Rubens, Pérez’ painting follows more closely the well known panel by Baltasar de Echave Rioja, completed in 1675 for the sacristy of Puebla cathedral—a work with which Pérez was surely familiar. 

Báltasar de Echave Rioja, Triumph of the Church. Puebla Cathedral

* 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

color images by Tacho Juarez Herrera and ELTB

Visit our other pages on Pascual Pérez: San Andres Cholula; San Jose de Puebla; El Carmen; The Temptations of Christ;