Juan Rodríguez Juárez (Mexico City, 1675 - 1728​)

Juan Rodríguez Juárez (Mexico City, 1675 - 1728​) "Pietà" Oil on copper. Circa 1702. 26,5 x 19,8 cm. Juan Rodríguez Juárez developed his art as a portraitist, andthe precision of his drawing, the solidity of his figures and the treatment of his canvases are outstanding. The son of Antonio Rodríguez and grandson of José Juárez, a great exponent of the New Spanish Baroque, Juan Rodríguez Juárez began painting at a very young age and was a contemporary of Cristóbal de Villalpando. He studied with José de Padilla, with whom he worked in his studio. Together with his brother Nicolás, he was a precursor of the great change in themes, models and visual language that would serve as a bridge between the 17th and 18th centuries, and which would give rise to the first art academies in New Spain. In addition to being a great portraitist, he created numerous religious paintings. The National Museum of Art houses important artworks by him, including his Self-Portrait and The Virgin of Mount Carmel with Saint Teresa and Saint John of the Cross. In the latter work, an oil on canvas dating from 1708, Rodríguez Juárez exalts the two holy reformers of the Carmelite order: Saint Teresa of Avila, theologian of the Church and founder of the Discalced Carmelites, and Saint John of the Cross, theorist and poet, author of the famous Spiritual Canticle. The artwork he didfor the Altar of the Kings in the Metropolitan Cathedral with the themes of The Assumption of the Virgin and The Adoration of the Kings are also remarkable. Focusing on the copper painting we have here, itis of extraordinary quality, both in the drawing and in the colouring of the chromatic palette selected, being in this respect very similar and comparable to the copper painting of the Burial of Christ currently on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Both compositions, which are derived from Flemish engravings, display the brilliant colour and vigorous modelling characteristic of the first phase of his career. They are undoubtedly by the same hand and, in fact, could be part of the same series as they share the same measurements. It is not only the artist's typical colour palette that they share, but also, the brushstrokes, the use of gold in brocades and haloes, the flesh tones and the anatomy used to define the human body are virtually identical in both works.