Lot 1: Cristobal de Villalpando

Cristobal de Villalpando (ca.1649-1714) Joseph makes himself known signed oil on canvas 59 7/8 by 82 5/8 in. (152 by 210 cm.) Executed circa 1680-90. One of the great artists of his era, Cristobal de Villalpando vied with his contemporary, Juan Correa, for the place as the most distinguished painter of the late seventeenth century. Together they have been credited with inventing the luminous, shimmering style that came to characterize the Mexican baroque. Rogelio Ruiz Gomar observed that Villalpando left, "one of the most abundant, sensual, imaginative and vital bodies of work produced in New Spain."1 His animated style and graceful brushwork, combined with an evident familiarity with the masterpieces of the Spanish baroque, have led scholars to compare Villalpando to European masters including Rubens, Murillo, and Valdes Leal. Recent scholarship has exposed a skill and influence so extensive as to warrant a reexamination of Villalpando's place in Spanish art generally, transcending his colonial status. The present work, previously unpublished and only recently rediscovered, is almost certainly a member of a known cycle depicting the life of the Old Testament Joseph. The recent catalogue raisonne identifies five other canvases from the story of Joseph, each episode based on a passage from Genesis: Joseph Recounts his Dreams to Jacob; Joseph Sold by his Brothers; The Triumph of Joseph; The Betrothal of Joseph and Asenat; and Jacob Blesses the Children of Joseph. All five are in public collections in Mexico and are tentatively dated to 1680-90, the pinnacle of Villalpando's career. The catalogue's authors conclude that the cycle must have included additional canvases. Clara Bargellini writes, "The canvases must have belonged to a group that almost certainly included additional scenes, since many episodes from the story are missing and . . . [the extant canvases] do not seem to correspond to a logical sequence."2 If it is in fact a member of this cycle, Joseph Makes

59 7/8 by 82 5/8 in.