Allegory of the Crucifixion with Jesuit Saints, 1760-70
By Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz (1713-1772), this painting is in the collection of the Curia de la Provincia Mexicana de la Compañía de Jesús (Jesuit order), located in Coyoacán. It was included in the exhibition Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici with the following venues: Mexico City, Palacio de Cultura Citibanamex (Palacio de Iturbide), June - Oct., 2017. The exhibition traveled to Los Angeles, County Museum, Nov., 2017 – March, 2018 and New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, April - July, 2018. The exhibition label at the MET venue read as follows:
“This allegorical painting was likely created for a Jesuit institution or member of the order. One of the primary goals of the Jesuits was to encourage the faithful to empathize with Christ’s sacrifice and inspire them to follow his example. Modeled after a roughly contemporary print, this type of image probably had a mnemonic function to help the viewer recall the history of the various holy figures. Aside from the practice of spiritual exercises, Jesuit instruction included frequent recitation of the litanies, prayers combined with a discussion of the saints’ lives, and masses dedicated to the martyrs. Morlete Ruiz adapted the engraving to the oval copper plate and masterfully translated it from black and white into color.”
The engraving in question is by Joseph Sebastian Klauber (1710–1768), issued in Augsburg, Germany, in 1750 and titled in Latin Fidelis Deus, per quem vocati estis in Societatem Filii ejus Iesu Christi Domini nostril (Faithful is God, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord). The Klaubers were a highly respected family of Germany printmakers, two of whom established a Catholic fine art publishing company circa 1737.
Professor and Cholula (Puebla) chronicler Anastasio Juárez Herrera kindly identified the individual saints in the paintings, detailed below. Jesuit saints dominate the bottom left portion of the oval, with SS Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier the lower foremost personages, left and right respectively.
“This allegorical painting was likely created for a Jesuit institution or member of the order. One of the primary goals of the Jesuits was to encourage the faithful to empathize with Christ’s sacrifice and inspire them to follow his example. Modeled after a roughly contemporary print, this type of image probably had a mnemonic function to help the viewer recall the history of the various holy figures. Aside from the practice of spiritual exercises, Jesuit instruction included frequent recitation of the litanies, prayers combined with a discussion of the saints’ lives, and masses dedicated to the martyrs. Morlete Ruiz adapted the engraving to the oval copper plate and masterfully translated it from black and white into color.”
The engraving in question is by Joseph Sebastian Klauber (1710–1768), issued in Augsburg, Germany, in 1750 and titled in Latin Fidelis Deus, per quem vocati estis in Societatem Filii ejus Iesu Christi Domini nostril (Faithful is God, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord). The Klaubers were a highly respected family of Germany printmakers, two of whom established a Catholic fine art publishing company circa 1737.
Professor and Cholula (Puebla) chronicler Anastasio Juárez Herrera kindly identified the individual saints in the paintings, detailed below. Jesuit saints dominate the bottom left portion of the oval, with SS Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier the lower foremost personages, left and right respectively.