Unknown artist, St. Ursula, 1700s. Oil paint on canvas; 66 × 41 in. Gift of Engracia Freyer Dougherty for Frank Barrows Freyer Collection, 1969.342.

height: 66 in, 167.6400 cm; width: 41 in, 104.1400 cm

Mayer Center, Latin American Art

Latin American Art

This object is currently on view

According to Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend (1228-1298), Saint Ursula was a Roman-British princess, the daughter of a Christian king. Hoping to delay her marriage to the pagan son of the King of England, Ursula undertook a three-year pilgrimage in the company of 11,000 virgins. After journeying to Rome, they were joined in their holy cause by the Pope and the Bishop of Ravenna. The party were slaughtered by the Huns as they made their way north to Cologne, the virgins beheaded and Ursula fatally shot with an arrow. The arrow and the red banner held by the saint are the two attributes that allow us to identify her as Ursula, who is often shown with the virgin martyrs (see 1983.596), but is infrequently depicted in colonial Latin American art.

The painting displays features typical of Cuzco painting of the 1700s including the Flemish-inspired landscape, which was popularized in the mid-1600s and 1700s, and a palette featuring bold reds and blues. The elaborate stamping of gold patterns on the fabric of Ursula’s robes (known as brocateado) is particularly fine here.

– Kathryn Santner, Frederick and Jan Mayer Fellow of Spanish Colonial Art, 2022

Gift of Engracia Freyer Dougherty for Frank Barrows Freyer Collection. Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.

• Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco, July 1924-August 1926
• "Decorative Arts of Spain and Spanish America," Toledo Museum of Art, November 2-30, 1930
• "Paintings & Decorative Art of XVI and XVII-Century Peru Collected by Mrs. Frank Freyer," Brooklyn Museum of Art, December 20, 1930 - September 30, 1931
• Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 1931-1939
• "Three Southern Neighbors - Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia," Newark Museum, April 14-December 31, 1942
• "The Frank Barrows Freyer Collection of Spanish-Peruvian Paintings," Lowe Art Gallery, University of Miami, November 14, 1961-January 28, 1962, cat. 1
• "Treasures from Peru: Spanish Colonial Paintings from the School of Cuzco," Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, 1967, cat. 1
• "The Frank Barrows Freyer Collection of Spanish Peruvian Paintings in the Denver Art Museum," The High Museum of Art, December 7-29, 1969, cat. 1
• "Gloria in Excelsis: The Virgin and Angels in Viceregal Painting of Peru and Bolivia," Center for Inter-American Relations, New York, November 12, 1985-February 10, 1986, Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, March 23-May 4, 1986, Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, May 19-July 20, 1986, cat. 11