A Conversation with Clara Bargellini on Cristóbal de Villalpando: Mexican Painter of the Baroque

This event is free and open to the public but registration is required.

Join us for a talk by curator Clara Bargellini, who will present Cristóbal de Villalpando: Mexican Painter of the Baroque, the exhibition she cocurated at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, followed by a conversation with Niria Leyva-Gutiérrez, PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. 

Cristóbal de Villalpando (ca. 1649-1714) emerged in the 1680s not only as the leading painter in viceregal Mexico, but also as one of the most innovative and accomplished artists in the entire Spanish world. Open until October 15, the show has as its starting point, the monumental canvas that the painter created for the Cathedral of Puebla, Moses and the Brazen Serpent and the Transfiguration of Jesus (1683). According to specialists, it is considered his earliest masterpiece and a milestone in the history of painting during the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Through the presentation of this great canvas—which has been restored for this exhibition and is presented outside its original context for the first time—and a selection of 10 additional artworks, the exhibition offers a new reading on the extent and character of the work of this remarkable painter.

Event Information: Veronica Flom | vflom@as-coa.org | 1-212-277-8367
Media Relations: mediarelations@as-coa.org | 1-212-277-8333
Membership Information: as-coa.org/CulturalCircle | membership@as-coa.org

Cristóbal de Villalpando, Moses and the Brazen Serpent and the Transfiguration of Jesus (detail), 1683. Col. Propiedad de la Nación Mexicana, Secretaría de Cultura, Dirección General de Sitios y Monumentos del Patrimonio Cultural, Acervo de la Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Inmaculada Concepción, Puebla, México.

Dr. Clara Bargellini has a PhD in art history from Harvard University. She is a member of the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where she also teaches undergraduate and graduate art history. As visiting professor, she has taught at various universities in Mexico, as well as the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, and the Universities of Chicago and Pennsylvania, among others. Her publications include books and articles on the art and architecture in northern New Spain, the historiography of the arts of New Spain, and on the collection and reception of New Spanish art, especially in the United States. She has collaborated with colleagues and students in numerous curatorial and editorial projects, including Cristóbal de Villalpando, exhibited in 1997–1998 at the Palacio de Iturbide, in Mexico City and at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid; and Cristóbal de Villalpando: Mexican Painter of the Baroque, shown this year at the Palacio de Iturbide in Mexico City, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Niria E. Leyva-Gutiérrez is assistant professor of Art History and director of Museum Studies in the College of Arts, Communications and Design at Long Island University, Post.  She earned her doctorate from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University in 2012, where her dissertation examined ecclesiastical images of power in New Spain. Her areas of specialization include the art and architecture of early modern Europe, colonial Latin America and modern art in Latin America and the Caribbean. She is currently preparing an article for publication on Cristóbal de Villalpando’s Transfiguration in the Cathedral of Puebla, Mexico.