Guanajuato, Gto., October 1, 2019.- The "Bellísima María Patrona de Vizcaya", a representative work of new-Spanish baroque art, will be part of the collection that can be seen in the Museum of the University of Guanajuato (MUG).
It is an oil painting dated between 1722 and 1740, the author of which was Mateo Gómez, the "star student" of the academy that brothers Juan and Nicolás Rodríguez Juárez established in Mexico City, noted the Coordinator of Furniture Goods of the University of Guanajuato, Lic. Alfonso Mario Martín Varela.
In this regard, he added that he was an indigenous author, something rare in the vice royal era, when it was very difficult for these artists to be part of some academy, and that of the Rodríguez Juárez brothers was one of the first in the country.
For his part, the historian Rafael Ocampo explained that the style of the work corresponds to the so-called primitive or archaizing baroque of the first half of the eighteenth century. In it is noticeable a strong influence of Peruvian painting that is reflected in the profusion of decorative elements, as well as on the position of the central figure and the triangular morphology of its clothing.
The "Bellísima María Patrona de Vizcaya" is a piece that gives an account of the rise of Marian worship in New Spain, which was manifested in paintings, sculptures, prayers, sermons and texts; as well as in the formation of congregations and concrete practices such as the prayer of the rosary, offering flowers, festivities and processions. All this as a response and defiance to the critical positions of the protestants.
In this case, the image retains the characteristics of the Renaissance Madonna, that is, the virgin with the child in his arms, as an exaltation of motherhood.
On the origin of the piece, Rafael Ocampo mentioned that there is the possibility that it was a commission of the Jesuits, or a gift to the House of Studies or by one of the many inhabitants of Guanajuato who emigrated from the region of Biscay, now Basque country in Spain.
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