More From the Picture Gallery

Here are some more paintings from the new gallery in the Franz Mayer Museum.  I did some research on these painters and included some interesting bits of biographical information about them.

"The Archangel Raphael and Tobias" by Miguel Cabrera

 1758

A mestizo born in Oaxaca, Cabrera moved to Mexico City.  During his lifetime he was considered the greatest painter in New Spain.

"Lady in a Café in Front of the Moulin Rouge" by Ignacio Zuloaga

1890

"Francisco and His Wife" by Ignacio Zuloaga

 1909

Although I like the art of the Spanish painter Zuloaga, I can't say the same for the man.  I discovered that during the Spanish Civil War and afterwards, he was a staunch supporter of the Fascist dictator Francisco Franco.

"Flowers" by Joaquín Sorolla

1888

¨

"Garden of the Alcázar of Seville" by Joaquín Sorolla

The Spanish painter Sorolla is known for the luminosity and shimmering light of his paintings.  He spent several months in the United States and painted a portrait of President William Howard Taft which is now in the art museum in Cincinnati, Ohio.

"View of the Valley of Mexico" by Conrad Wise Chapman

late 19th century

Chapman was born in Washington, D.C., and fought with the Confederate Army during the Civil War.  After the war, bitter over the loss of the Confederacy, he spent time in Mexico, where he did a number of landscapes.

"View of Zacatecas" by Daniel Thomas Egerton

1832

The British landscape painter abandoned his family and ran off to Mexico with his lover, Alice Edwards, the teenaged daughter of another painter.  He and Alice were murdered in Mexico City.  Egerton's involvement with fraudulent land sales in Texas, or a jealous paramour may have been behind the crime.

"Northwest View of Mexico City" by Pietro Gualdi

1842

The Italian painter was a set designer with La Scala Opera of Milan.  He went to Mexico with a touring opera company and ended up spending 13 years there. He later moved to New Orleans, where he died. 

"The Valley of Mexico from the Sierra de Guadalupe" by José María Velasco

early 20th century

The Mexican landscape painter Velasco has long been a favorite of mine.  His paintings won medals at world's fairs in Philadelphia and Paris.  In addition to art, he also studied zoology, botany, geology and surveying.