Viceroyalty of Peru, 18th century.

Viceroyalty of Peru, XVIII century.
"Christ in the mystical winepress".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Similar piece is preserved in the Monastery of Santa Clara de Quito. It presents slight craquelure. It presents good state of conservation according to the time. Measurements: 75 x 55 cm, 89 x 70 cm (frame).

The present work represents the complex and symbolic iconography of the Christ in the mystical winepress, a Eucharistic allegory of deep theological content, very diffused in the Hispanic-American scope during the XVII century, especially in the Viceroyalty of Peru. In the center of the composition appears a half-naked Christ, crowned with thorns and carrying the cross, arranged on a large winepress where his blood is collected, alluding directly to the redemptive sacrifice and the institution of the Eucharist.

The scene is completed with the presence of God the Father, who drives the spindle of the winepress, and of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, forming a Trinitarian representation of great doctrinal load. At the foot of the winepress, angels collect the blood of Christ in a chalice, a clear allusion to the Eucharistic sacrament, while the Virgin Mary appears to one side, in a devout and recollected attitude, spiritually participating in the sacrifice of her Son. The composition is articulated in different planes, organized in a hierarchical and symbolic way, following schemes typical of Counter-Reformation painting.

From the formal point of view, the work presents a narrative and descriptive language, with figures of defined contours and a chromatic palette dominated by earthy, ochre and reddish tones, accentuated by the hallmarks of light that reinforce the drama of the scene. The treatment of the faces and the folds of the drapery responds to European models disseminated through engravings, reinterpreted with a local sensibility characteristic of Andean viceroyalty painting.

This type of allegorical representations enjoyed a special diffusion in the Viceroyalty of Peru during the XVII and XVIII centuries, within the framework of the visual catechesis promoted by the religious orders, which found in images of strong symbolic impact an effective instrument of teaching and devotion. The iconography of the mystical winepress, in particular, was widely used in conventual and ecclesiastical contexts, given its doctrinal clarity and its capacity for theological synthesis.

Due to its iconographic, formal and technical characteristics, the work can be coherently ascribed to the painting of the Viceroyalty of Peru in the 18th century, constituting a significant example of the assimilation and reinterpretation of European models in the artistic and spiritual context of viceroyal America.