Christ on the Cross
- José de Alcíbar, Mexican, c.1730-1801
José de Alcíbar, Christ on the Cross, 1762. Oil paint on panel; 12 × 9⅜ × ⅜ in. Gift of Carl Patterson in honor of John Montague and Charles Lehman, 2012.266.
It is thought that painted crucifixes, such as this example, were hung in the convent cells of nuns. They were painted in Mexico and South America by many of the most famous artists of the time. Jose de Alcíbar (active 1751-1803), the painter of this crucifix, was a disciple of Miguel Cabrera, a member of the intelligentsia, and was active in the efforts to establish an art academy in Mexico as early as the 1750s. When the Royal Academy of Art was finally founded in 1781, he was one of the first professors of painting. His career spans the transition from late Baroque to full-fledged Neo-Classicism and he was adept at both. This painting is signed by Alcíbar and dated 1762, making it an example of his early work still in the Baroque tradition.
-- Julie Wilson Frick and Sabena Kull, 2018
