Appartition of Saint Michael on Mount Gargano (Saint Michael and the Bull)

Appartition of Saint Michael on Mount Gargano (Saint Michael and the Bull)

circa 1650
Artist
Sebastián López de Arteaga, Spanish, 1610-1652
Born: Seville, Spain
Work Locations: Seville, Spain, Mexico
Active Years: 1640-1652
Country
Mexico
Object
painting
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Accession Number
1994.27
Credit Line
Gift of Frank Barrows Freyer Collection by exchange and Gift of Frederick and Jan Mayer

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.

Dimensions
image height: 75 in, 190.5000 cm; image width: 61 in, 154.9400 cm; frame height: 86.75 in, 220.3450 cm; frame width: 72.25 in, 183.5150 cm; frame depth: 4 in, 10.1600 cm
Department
Mayer Center, Latin American Art
Collection
Latin American Art
This object is currently on view

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

Known Provenance
Gifted 27 January 1994 by Frederick and Jan Mayer 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.
Exhibition History
  • "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