Attributed to Baltasar Echave Orio (Zumaya, C. 1548 – México, 1624)

Attributed to Baltasar Echave Orio (Zumaya, C. 1548 – México, 1624)
Viceroyalty Mexico. 16th - 17th century.
"Saint Joseph with the Child"
Oil on copper. 29 x 23 cm.

The painter was born in Zumaya and later trained in Seville, where he discovered the work of Hernando de Esturmio and Luis de Vargas. The fact that he was living near to workshops where art was being produced to send to New Spain seems to be a factor that influenced his career, as he decided to emigrate and settle in Mexico, where he married the painter Francisco Ibía’s daughter.
Many artistic influences arrived in New Spain, one of these was that of the Flemish painters such as Martín de Vos, Simón Pereyns and Andrés de Concha, who certainly made the greatest mark on the Echave Orio’s style.
This Flemish style is clearly visible on this copper, as we can see in the landscape in which the scene is set.
His first dated work was painted in conjunction with his father-in-law, Francisco Ibía, in 1590 for the old Puebla Cathedral.
His individual output dates from 1606, with an Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Various artists trained in his workshop, among them was his own son, Baltasar Echave Ibía, and it seems that Luis Juárez could also have been one of his disciples. Viceroyalty painting of the first half of the 17th century was strongly marked by the influence of the style that was coming out of the Echave family workshop.
His outstanding paintings include Portiuncula and The Visitation, dated in 1608 – 1610 and made for the main altarpiece of the Franciscans of Tlatelolco, which currently can be found among the collection at the Mexico Museo Nacional de Arte. Other paintings from the same reredos include the Annunciation and the Adoration of the magi.