JUAN CORREA

(Ciudad de México, c. 1645 - 1716)

JUAN CORREA (Mexico City, c. 1645 - 1716) "The Virgin of Carmen protecting different saints under her mantle"

Oil on canvas. Reference bibliography: VARGASLUGO, E., Juan Correa. Her life and her work, Mexico, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Institute of Aesthetic Research, 2017. This painting represents the Virgin of Carmen sheltering different saints under her mantle. In the group on the left, with Saint Dominic de GuzmAn at the head, we find Saint Anthony of Padua carrying the lily, Saint Barbara with the tower in which she was imprisoned and Saint Augustine, with the miter, carrying a feather in his hand. . In the group on the right, led by Saint Francis of Assisi, appear the Dominican Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Ursula carrying an arrow and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino with his starry tunic. The mantle of the Virgin of Carmen is held by Saint Joseph and Saint Teresa, spiritual pillars of Carmel. Of unknown authorship, its stylistic and formal characteristics allow it to be related to the works of the New Spanish painter Juan Correa, born in Mexico City around 1645 and died in 1716; one of the most prolific painters of this period and who, consequently, had a huge workshop from which a multitude of commissions of different quality came out. His father, of African and Spanish mix, was a surgeon from Cadiz and his mother was a “free brunette” from New Spain. Mulato, regarding this union, managed to achieve great social prestige with a series of works that were reminiscent of those of Villalpando due to the ease of the brushwork and its lively colors. The works of his first stage, prior to the year 1680, are much more detailed and drawn and in them an unmistakable characteristic of his works can be observed: the painting of “broken color” or the fact of painting the incarnations of the figures with “skin”. brunette"; some features that can be seen perfectly in this work. Formally, it must be related to a small painting signed by Correa (15 x 11 cm.) that recently appeared in Madrid stores and that represents the Virgin of Carmen interceding for the souls in Purgatory with the help of Saint Joseph and Saint Teresa (AlcalA , March 12, 2020, lot 839). The physiognomic features of Mary and the saint of Avila are identical in both cases, as is the morphology of the angelic heads. The same use of gold is observed in the nimbuses, the crowns and in the details of the vestments and an identical color palette that is somewhat more “tanned” tones in this canvas. The figures of the Virgin share a peculiar rounded nimbus with a blue background on which the twelve stars of the vision of the Apocalypse are spread. Measurements: 178 x 140 cm.