Oil on panel, c. 1615-25, Museo Nacional de Arte, INBA, Mexico City
Luis Juárez (?), Mexican, c. 1585 - after 1636
St. Ildephonsus (Ildefonso) was abbot of the monastery SS. Cosmas and Damian at Aglia near Toledo (Spain) before succeding his uncle, St. Eugenius, as archbishop of Toledo. Born in the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo in about 606 he is particularly associated with devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary which he encouraged with his literary creation "De virginitate perpetua sanctae Mariae" (Of the Perpetual Virginity of Saint Mary). He was rewarded for this effort by the Lady herself, who descended from heaven and presented him with a golden chasuble (the garment worn by a priest when celebrating mass) which had been specially woven in heaven. His work was extremely influential in the formulation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. He died in 677, his feast day is celebrated on January 23. The present location of the miraculous chasuble is not recorded.
This painting has recently been the subject of rather tepid controversy in the tempestuous teapot of the Mexican art world: Long attributed to the Mexican-born master Luis Juárez, who founded a dynasty of seventeenth century Mexican artists, The Imposition of the Chasuble on St. Ildephonsus has been removed by some from Juárez' oeuvre, while others vociferously defend its authenticity. Its strong resemblance to two quite similar but less-known works by Juárez, "The Virgin Appearing to St. Raymond of Toulouse" (private collection, Mexico) and "The Apparition of the Infant Christ to St. Anthony of Padua" (Museo Regional de Queretaro, mexico) suggests at least a close connection between the two works. The fact that the now re-attributed painting appears backwards on the cover of Rogelio Cruz Gomar's catalogue of Juárez' work ("El pintor Luis Juárez, su vida y Obra" Mexico, INBA, 1987) does little to clarify the issue. This writer believes it to be an authentic work of the master, in case you were interested.
Autograph or not, The Imposition is a typical and particularly brilliant example of the Mexican baroque style of the first half of the seventeenth century. This style arguably owes more to Rubens and the school of Antwerp than to the styles traditionally associated with the Spanish peninsula. This is not surprising, as Antwerp was the seat of the Spanish Netherlands, at the time under the capable regency of the daughter of Spain's Phillip II, the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia and her husband (and cousin), the Austrian Archduke Albert. Juarez' sacred works are marked by a peculiar intensity, and by the portrayal of saintly figures in intimate, often ecstatic communication with Christ or the Blessed Virgin. Juarez is known to have painted the triumphal arches erected in Mexico City in 1611 for the arrival of the Archbishop-Viceroy Fray Garcia Guerra, less than a year before that prelate was replaced by Don Diego Fernández de Córdoba y López de las Roelas Benavides y Melgarejo, marqués de Guadalcázar y conde de Posadas, the music for whose 1612 reception in Puebla Polyhymnia will present in its March concert. It is likely that Juárez designed the arches for the Fernandez de Cordoba's Mexico City welcome as well.
