Diego Quispe Tito, Virgin of Immaculate Conception with Franciscan Saints, about 1675. Oil paint on canvas; 64 × 48 in. Gift of John Critcher Freyer for the Frank Barrows Freyer Collection at the Denver Art Museum, 1969.344.

height: 64 in, 162.5600 cm; width: 48 in, 121.9200 cm

Mayer Center, Latin American Art

Latin American Art

The most well-known artist in 17th-century Cuzco, Peru was Diego Quispe Tito (1611-1681), who was of noble Inca ancestry. Here Quispe Tito, likely working from a European engraving as was common artistic practice, painted the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, surrounded by symbols of her purity including but not limited to flowers, water, and a mirror. She stands on a silver crescent moon, a symbol of her immaculate conception, while a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, hovers over her head.
     While at first glance this might look to be a European style religious painting there are some elements that make it uniquely Peruvian. The extraordinary use of gold stamping to create the pattern on the cloth is exclusive to Cuzco and the surrounding highland areas, including Bolivia. Also, the red and blue wings and drapery on the angels is interesting to note as red and blue feathers were sacred to the Inca and were symbols of nobility. Although Lima became the political capital of colonial Peru, Cuzco remained its artistic capital, as it had been in Inca times.
--Julie Wilson Frick & Donna Pierce, 2015
 

Collected about 1922-23 in Cuzco, Peru by Maria Engracia Critcher Freyer [1888-1969]; by descent entered Collection of Mr. John Critcher Freyer [1923-1992], Denver, CO; gifted 24 October 1969 to the Denver Art Museum. 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.

• Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art, September - October 1926
• "Decorative Arts of Spain and Spanish America," Toledo Museum of Art, November 2-30, 1930
• 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
• "Treasures from Peru: Spanish Colonial Paintings from the School of Cuzco," Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, 1967