Monumental Cain Killing Abel, Baltasar de Echave Orio (ca. 1558 - ca. 1623), 17th century Mexican colonial school ...

Monumental Cain Killing Abel, Baltasar de Echave Orio (ca. 1558 - ca. 1623), 17th century Mexican colonial school, New Spain
Large oil on canvas. Measurements: 240 x 150 cm. Baltasar de Echave Orio, also called the "Old Man" (Zumaya, Guipúzcoa, 1548-Mexico, c. 1620) was a Spanish painter and writer established in New Spain, present-day Mexico, at least since 1582. A prominent figure in colonial art. and head of a dynasty of painters, his self-portrait stamped on the front of his Discourses on the Antiquity of the Bascongada Cantabrian Language, carrying a brush and a pen in his hand, is illustrated with the inscription Patriæ et penicillum et calamum, utroque æque artifex dedicavit , which could be translated as "To the country, the brush and the pen, the artist dedicated equally." The problem of Echave's artistic training, however, is far from being resolved, since Francisco de Zumaya seems to have been above all a gilder and stew and in the abundant documentation relating to the work carried out by him in the cathedral of Mexico in 1585, helped by indigenous painters, Echave is not mentioned. In any case, the first documented work in his name, the painting of the altarpiece of the cathedral of Puebla that Simón Pereyns could not finish, was hired by Echave in 1590 together with his father-in-law. This was followed by some less substantial works and in 1596 and 1597 provided sambenitos and other objects for the autos de fe of the Inquisition court. Bibliography: Guadalupe Victoria, José, A painter in his time. Baltasar de Echave Orio, Mexico, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Institute of Aesthetic Research, 1994, ISBN 9683631029. Provenance: important Andalusian private collection, Sevillian mansion, Seville, Andalusia, Spain.

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