Miguel Cabrera

MIGUEL CABRERA (Mexico, 1695 - 1768).
"Ecce Homo.
Oil on canvas, glued to board.
Frame of the eighteenth century, with additions of the nineteenth century.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Presents faults in the frame.
Size: 77 x 64 cm; 100 x 77 x 6 cm (frame).
In this canvas adhered to a board, Jesus Christ is represented as Ecce Homo. The characteristic workmanship of the New Spain painter Miguel Cabrera can be appreciated in his skillful assimilation of Spanish Baroque tenebrism, whose formulas he softened by forging his own typology of suffering figures, especially virgins, saints and Christs like the one we are dealing with. The wiry features have been modeled with nuanced shades that enhance the expressiveness of the face, with two tears running down one cheekbone. Blood drips from the crown of thorns that girdles his forehead. The red cloth, a color associated with the Passion and sacrifice, wraps around his shoulders, leaving his torso naked and vulnerable. Handcuffed, the eyes clouded with pain silently dialogue with God the Father. The hands of fine fingers remain joined by a rope. The skillful handling of the glazes stands out. The devotional painting conveys the extreme loneliness of Jesus at the moment when he is exposed to be judged and condemned.
Miguel Cabrera was one of the greatest exponents of the novo-Hispanic baroque painting. Born in the town of Tlalixtac, in Oaxaca, he dedicated his work to religious themes and especially to the figure of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and on this last theme he wrote "American marvel and set of rare wonders observed with the direction of the rules of the art of painting" (1756). Among his most outstanding works are those he made for some chapels of the cathedral of Mexico City, among them the sacristy, which houses in one of its walls a "Woman of the Apocalypse". Cabrera was also the chamber painter of Archbishop José Manuel Rubio y Salinas, and in 1753 he founded the first painting academy in Mexico. He also painted some portraits, such as that of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1751). Miguel Cabrera was especially splendid in his small and medium-sized works, both on canvas and copper. His warm and vivid colors, unparalleled in the Novo-Hispanic school of the 18th century, stand out, as well as his firm drawing and the poetic expressions of the faces of his Virgins, saints and even portraits of characters of his time. He was a very prolific artist, and had a very large workshop with apprentices specialized in specific tasks. When composing his works he used to base himself, sometimes literally, on prints of Spanish and Flemish origin, a common practice not only in America but also in Europe. On the other hand, we see in his production a strong influence of Murillo, which makes us think that he must have worked in the workshop of the Rodriguez Juarez brothers, then at the height of their glory, in Mexico City. Currently his works are kept in several of the main Mexican temples, as well as in the Museo del Virreinato in Tepozotlán, the Museo de América in Madrid, the Museo de El Carmen in San Ángel (Mexico City), the Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones in Coyoacán, the Pinacoteca Virreinal in Mexico City, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Museo de Santa Mónica in Puebla.