Power and Piety: Spanish Colonial Art

Fernando Álvarez Carneiro (c. 1670–1744), Venezuela
The Holy Spirit, 1730
Oil on canvas
160.8 x 103.1 cm (63 5/16 x 40 9/16 in.)
Denver Art Museum. Promised gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Carolina Cisneros Phelps

Unidentified artist, Brazil
Incense Boat, 18th century
Silver
14 x 15.2 x 6.4 cm (5 1/2 x 6 x 2 1/2 in.)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Promised gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro

Unidentified artist, Venezuela
Via Crucis—Station VII: Jesus Falls for the Second Time, 1759
Oil on wood
39.5 x 37 cm (15 9/16 x 14 9/16 in.)
Blanton Museum of Art. Promised gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Milan R. Hughston

José Ramón Cardozo (b. 1758), Venezuela
Armchair for the Choir of the Caracas Cathedral, 1797
Mahogany, velvet upholstery
135.5 x 79 x 65 cm (53 3/8 x 31 1/8 x 25 9/16 in.)
Denver Art Museum. Promised gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Adriana Cisneros de Griffin

the construction of a new choir. The woodworker José Ramón Cardozo was commissioned with this work in 1794. After numerous delays and disputes with church authorities, he was barely able to finish the chairs before his contract was canceled in 1798. The Anglo-Dutch style design of the chairs may be based on one of the many images or treatises of European woodworking that were circulating throughout the Americas at the time. Intense commerce toward the end of the 18th century between the Captaincy General of Venezuela and the nearby Dutch and English colonies of the Caribbean may explain the possible origin of this particular design.

Juan Pedro López (1724–1787), Venezuela
Saint Matthew, c. 1770
Oil on canvas
138.4 x 95.9 cm (54 1/2 x 37 3/4 in.)
Denver Art Museum. Promised gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Mateo R. Barnetche

In Latin America during the period of the Spanish colonies, the Catholic Church and its related institutions, such as convents, monasteries, and brotherhoods, were the greatest patrons of the arts. This large-format painting by the Caracas master Juan Pedro López offers a fine example of church patronage. The work, one of three surviving pieces of a complete series of the twelve apostles, was commissioned to López around 1770 for the Convent of the Conception in Caracas. Founded in 1636, the convent was the oldest and wealthiest of the city until its closing in 1874.

Juan Pedro López (1724–1787), Venezuela
Our Lady of Guidance, c. 1762
Oil on wood
100.3 x 69.2 cm (39 1/2 x 27 1/4 in.)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Promised gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Jorge Rivas

Domingo Tomás Núñez (1735–1801), Venezuela
Sacrarium, c. 1790
Silver
16.4 x 15 x 7 cm (6 7/16 x 5 7/8 x 2 3/4 in.)
Denver Art Museum. Promised gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Gisela and Carlos Padula

This small silver piece, measuring just over 6 inches, is an example of the aesthetic refinement and artisanal mastery achieved by the silversmiths of Caracas, Venezuela during the second half of the eighteenth century. This sacrarium, attributed to Domingo Tomás Núñez (1735–1801), is a miniature version of the silver sacraria that were used in the city’s principal temples. This portable adaptation was used to bring communion to those who could not attend church. In these cases, the priest was required to walk in solemn procession, with the sacrarium hanging from his neck by a silver chain, until reaching the place where the communion would be given. The complex embossed rocaille decoration that covers the entire surface of the piece is characteristic of the Rococo style that remained popular in Caracas until the last decade of the eighteenth century, much later than in other Spanish territories in America, where stylistic preferences were already turning toward classical forms of Greco-Roman inspiration.

The upper classes—local nobles, landowners, and affluent merchants—of the great capitals of the Viceroyalties, Mexico City and Lima, competed with their counterparts in Madrid and Seville in the ostentatious display of New World riches. No expense was spared in the furnishing of homes and country estates. Very special care was put into the decoration of oratories in particular. Small and luxurious tabernacles with religious images, frequently collapsible for easy transport, were the focal point of domestic altars. This architecturally inspired 18th-century Mexican tabernacle resembles a small canopy supported by four small Salomonic columns. Opening its doors reveals an interior painted with chinoiserie on a vermilion background, in imitation of the luxurious Asian textiles circulated by the Manila Galleon. A pair of mirrors affixed to each of the four door flaps, with their respective gilt shelves and molding, served to increase the light of candles placed on the shelves. A full body image of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception completes the ensemble.