Portrait of Simón de la Valle y Cuadra

Portrait of Simón de la Valle y Cuadra

circa 1760
Artist
unknown artist
Country
Peru
Object
painting
Medium
Oil paint on canvas.
Accession Number
2000.250.1
Credit Line
Funds from Jan & Frederick R. Mayer, Carl & Marilynn Thoma, Jim & Marybeth Vogelzang, Lorraine & Harley Higbie

Unknown artist, Portrait of Simón de la Valle y Cuadra, about 1760. Oil on canvas; 30½ x 25 in. Funds from Jan & Frederick R. Mayer, Carl & Marilynn Thoma, Jim & Marybeth Vogelzang, Lorraine & Harley Higbie, 2000.250.1.

Dimensions
image height: 30.5 in, 77.4700 cm; image width: 25 in, 63.5000 cm; frame height: 38 3/4 in, 98.4250 cm; frame width: 32 7/8 in, 83.5025 cm; frame depth: 3 3/4 in, 9.5250 cm
Inscription
in Spanish, upper left corner.
Department
Mayer Center, Latin American Art
Collection
Latin American Art

Portraiture became increasingly important in colonial Latin America where local artists generally followed the canons accepted for official portraiture in Europe, with figures portrayed in three-quarter view gazing directly at the viewer and flanked by drapery. However, in the Americas the focus on social standing often overshadowed any effort to convey the essential personality of the subject. Although colonial artists accomplished a physical likeness, the faces often show little expression. Instead artists focused their attention on depicting rich details of luxurious clothing and objects that allude to the subject’s abilities or accomplishments. Sometimes coats-of-arms or cartouches with inscriptions outlining the sitter’s heritage or honors were included.
     This portrait is one of a pair that was painted of a married couple from Trujillo, Peru. According to the inscriptions, the gentleman was born in Spain and immigrated to Peru to serve as head of the Royal Bank in Trujillo. His Spanish-American wife (2000.250.2) was born in Trujillo and descended from one of Columbus’s navigators. Both husband and wife were literate, as indicated by the writing quill and paper he holds and the book in her hand. The red and white badge on his chest indicates he is a member of the Spanish military-religious order of Calatrava.
-- Donna Pierce, 2015
 

Known Provenance
Collection of Agnese Macchi di Celleri Cobo, Countess of Campello, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bequeathed to the Lavalle Cobo Family, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bequeathed to Hernan Lavalle Cobo, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consigned to (Sotheby's), New York, NY, sale 7322, lot 90; Purchased by (Valery Taylor Brown Gallery), New York, NY, November 1999; Purchased by the Denver Art Museum, November 2000
Exhibition History
  • “ReVision: Art in the Americas” — Denver Art Museum, 10/24/2021 – 7/17/2022
  • ReVision: Art in the Americas, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN, 7/1/23 - 9/17/23

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