Bartolome Esteban Murillo Art

This is a possible self portrait by the famed female surrealist artist. It is also strikingly similar in style with it's exaggerated eyes to her portrait of Jean Genet, ( Leonor F...

Pair Antique 19th Century Indian Miniature Mica Paintings C.1830 Indian Company School A pair of 19th Century Indian mica gouache paintings on mica. Depicting the water carrier and of a Purdah bullock...

Danish early 19th Century oil painting of a farm house in a period gilded frame.

Provenance: Torres Family Collection, Asunción, Paraguay, ca. 1967-2017 While the genre of portraiture flourished in the New World, very few examples of early Spanish colonial portraits have survived to the present day. This remarkable painting is a rare example of female portraiture, depicting a member of the highest echelons of society in Cuzco during the last quarter of the 17th century. Its most distinctive feature is the false beauty mark (called a chiqueador) that the sitter wears on her left temple. Chiqueadores served both a cosmetic and medicinal function. In addition to beautifying their wearers, these silk or velvet pouches often contained medicinal herbs thought to cure headaches. This painting depicts an unidentified lady from the Creole elite in Cuzco. Her formal posture and black costume are both typical of the established conventions of period portraiture and in line with the severe fashion of the Spanish court under the reign of Charles II, which remained current until the 18th century. She is shown in three-quarter profile, her long braids tied with soft pink bows and decorated with quatrefoil flowers, likely made of silver. Her facial features are idealized and rendered with great subtly, particularly in the rosy cheeks. While this portrait lacks the conventional coat of arms or cartouche that identifies the sitter, her high status is made clear by the wealth of jewels and luxury materials present in the painting. She is placed in an interior, set off against the red velvet curtain tied in the middle with a knot on her right, and the table covered with gold-trimmed red velvet cloth at the left. The sitter wears a four-tier pearl necklace with a knot in the center with matching three-tiered pearl bracelets and a cross-shaped earing with three increasingly large pearls. She also has several gold and silver rings on both hands—one holds a pair of silver gloves with red lining and the other is posed on a golden metal box, possibly a jewelry box. The materials of her costume are also of the highest quality, particularly the white lace trim of her wide neckline and circular cuffs. The historical moment in which this painting was produced was particularly rich in commissions of this kind. Following his arrival in Cuzco from Spain in the early 1670’s, bishop Manuel de Mollinedo y Angulo actively promoted the emergence of a distinctive regional school of painting in the city. Additionally, with the increase of wealth and economic prosperity in the New World, portraits quickly became a way for the growing elite class to celebrate their place in society and to preserve their memory. Portraits like this one would have been prominently displayed in a family’s home, perhaps in a dynastic portrait gallery. We are grateful to Professor Luis Eduardo Wuffarden for his assistance cataloguing this painting on the basis of high-resolution images. He has written that “the sober palette of the canvas, the quality of the pigments, the degree of aging, and the craquelure pattern on the painting layer confirm it to be an authentic and representative work of the Cuzco school of painting...

Interesting 19th century Folk Art painting of a young girl holding a bible. Oil on canvas with a treed landscape and blue sky. Set in a deep carved giltwood frame with repeating bord...

Spectacular Russian Icon St. George and the Dragon painting. It is hand painted with gold leaf on a wood panel. From the 19th Century. Really good condition. Very well kept. The orig...

19th century miniature oil on board painting of edelweiss circa 1880. Fine quality desktop painting of edelweiss, presented on a wooden easel. Minor losses to paintwork.

Pair Antique 19th Century Indian miniature Mica paintings C.1830 Indian Company School A pair of 19th Century Indian gouache paintings on mica. M...

A lovely naive 19th century Folk Art portrait painting of a young girl picking wild flowers with a basket. Three quarter length oil on canvas. In a bird-eye maple frame. The painting...

Russian 19th century icon painting on wood, The Good Shepherd Hand painted rustic style icon painting full portrait of the Good Shepherd with his floc...

A anonymous Italian 19th century flower painting, oil on wood. The flowers in a gold colored bouquet vase with a scrolled base. Resting o...

Unsigned Maritime oil painting. Very good quality, by the hand of a professional painter. The painting is soiled from 100 years of exposure. The frame has some losses (chips) to the ...