Appartition of Saint Michael on Mount Gargano (Saint Michael and the Bull)
- Sebastián López de Arteaga, Spanish, 1610-1652
- Born: Seville, Spain
- Work Locations: Seville, Spain, Mexico
- Active Years: 1640-1652
Sebastián López de Arteaga, Appartition of Saint Michael on Mount Gargano (Saint Michael and the Bull), about 1650. Oil on canvas; 75 × 61 in. Gift of Frank Barrows Freyer Collection by exchange and Gift of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 1994.27.
Sebastián López de Arteaga was born in Seville, Spain, and trained there as a painter in the 1620s. Inspired by the works of his great Sevillian contemporaries Francisco de Zurbarán and José de Ribera, his paintings showcased a dramatic chiaroscuro, or intense contrast of light and dark. Like many artists looking for opportunity in the Americas, López de Arteaga emigrated in about 1640 to New Spain, where he had a successful career. He died in 1652 in Mexico City.
This large painting depicts the apparition of Saint Michael on Mount Gargano to a local bishop and is signed at lower left. Based on its subject and dimensions, it is likely part of a group of works commissioned from the artist in 1650 by nuns of the Order of Saint Clare to decorate a sizable retablo in their convent in Puebla, Mexico.
Jorge F. Rivas Pérez, Frederick and Jan Mayer Curator of Latin American Art
- "Painting a New World: Mexican Art and Life 1521 - 1821", Denver Art Museum, April 3 - July 25, 2004
- "Arts In Latin America 1492 - 1800", Philadelphia Museum of Art, September 2006 - September 2007
- "El vuelo de las imágenes. Arte plumario de México y Europa," Museo Nacional de Arte, November 2009 - February 2010