91 - Viceregal School. Lima. Peru. 18th century.

Viceregal School. Lima. Peru. 18th century. "Portrait of Cristóbal de Castilla y Zamora" Oil on canvas. 136 × 104.5 cm. The sitter depicted in our painting is Cristóbal de Castilla y Zamora (Lucena, Córdoba, 1618 – La Plata, Charcas, 1683), Inquisitor of Lima, Bishop of Huamanga and Archbishop of La Plata, and founder of the Royal and Pontifical University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga. He was the nephew of the individual portrayed in our lot 90. At the lower edge, an inscription on a cartouche reads: "El Ex.mo E Il.mo Sr. Dr. Dn. Xristoval de Castilla, y Zamora, Colegial Mayor del Real E Ymperial de Gra-nada, Decano del Conzejo de S. M. Ynquisidor mayor, y Virrei de Lima, Obispo de Guamanga, Arzobispo de las Charcas, y de La Plata, Electo de Lima - fundo Cuatro Mayorasgos de su Patrimonio incompatibles Nacio año de 1618." ("The Most Excellent and Most Illustrious Lord Dr Don Cristóbal de Castilla, y Zamora, Senior Collegiate of the Royal and Imperial College of Granada, Dean of His Majesty’s Council, Chief Inquisitor, and Viceroy of Lima, Bishop of Guamanga, Archbishop of Charcas and of La Plata, Elected to Lima. He founded four mayorazgos from his own estate, incompatible. Born in the year 1618.") A prominent figure in the Spanish ecclesiastical administration of the Viceroyalty of Peru during the reign of Charles II, Cristóbal de Castilla y Zamora was born in Lucena in 1618. He studied Canon Law and Civil Law in Granada, eventually serving as a lawyer before the Royal Chancery and as rector of the University of Granada. In 1653, he was sent to the Americas to serve as prosecutor of the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Lima, an appointment documented in the General Archive of the Indies. He subsequently attained the rank of Inquisitor of Lima, thus embarking on a distinguished institutional career in the Viceroyalty of Peru. In 1668, he was appointed Bishop of Huamanga, in present-day Ayacucho, taking possession of the diocese the following year. His episcopate was marked by considerable pastoral, charitable and educational activity. He visited his extensive diocese, convened the Synod of Huamanga in 1672 and consecrated the cathedral. He also promoted institutions devoted to education and public welfare, including a hospital in Huanta, which he financed from his own assets. His work in the Americas is particularly noteworthy for his patronage. Castilla y Zamora devoted a considerable portion of his personal wealth to religious, educational and charitable foundations. His most significant undertaking was the establishment of the University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga, to which he contributed property and income from his own resources and whose foundation received royal and papal protection. Among its aims was to make higher education accessible to those who lacked the means to travel to the major university centres of Lima or Cuzco. His dealings with Indigenous communities must be understood within the religious and political context of the seventeenth century. During his pastoral visits, he travelled into territories in the Apurímac region, and historical sources attribute to him activities involving evangelisation and the establishment of settlements. His work therefore reflected the evangelising system characteristic of the Spanish Monarchy and the Church of his time. Alongside this missionary dimension, sources highlight his educational, hospital and charitable foundations, as well as his use of personal wealth to support institutions within the dioceses he governed. The culmination of his career came with his appointment as Archbishop of La Plata, or Charcas, in present-day Bolivia, one of the principal ecclesiastical sees in Spanish America. There, he continued his educational work, reorganising the seminary and, from 1681 onwards, promoting law chairs associated with the University of San Francisco Xavier of Chuquisaca. He died in La Plata in 1683. His career provides a notable example of the Spanish high clergy established in the Americas during the seventeenth century, combining inquisitorial and episcopal duties with significant work as the founder and patron of religious, hospital and university institutions. For a long time, a tradition circulated claiming that Castilla y Zamora was the illegitimate son of King Philip IV. Modern genealogical research has dismissed this alleged parentage, documenting him instead as the legitimate son of Diego Pablo de Castilla y Ruiz and María de Zamora y Sánchez. Provenance: - Private collection, Spain. Since its establishment, the work has remained within the same family through successive generations.