Skip Navigation

The Legend of Santa Sophronia

Cuzco School

European Art

On View: Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
PAINTINGS IN SPANISH COLONIAL HOMES
The enormous number of paintings acquired by private collectors in colonial Spanish America is borne out by evidence in testamentary, dowry, and other documents of the period. From urban centers to frontier areas, paintings by European and New World artists depicting religious and secular subjects decorated the homes of Creole, peninsular Spanish, mestizo (people of mixed race), and indigenous men and women.

The five Andean paintings on this wall were produced for a growing art market by anonymous artists in the workshops of Cuzco. Paintings of religious subjects were prevalent in Spanish America but uncommon in colonial British America; one exception was the New York scripture paintings made for Upper Hudson and Mohawk Valley Dutch families (see illustration).

Elite Spanish American homes also displayed Spanish and Flemish paintings, which annually traveled to the New World by way of Spanish ships and were marketed by merchants throughout Spanish America.


LAS PINTURAS EN LAS CASAS COLONIALES ESPAÑOLAS
El enorme número de pinturas adquiridas por los coleccionistas privados en la Hispanoamérica colonial es evidente en testamentos, dotes y otros documentos de la época. Tanto en los centros urbanos como en las áreas fronterizas, pinturas de artistas europeos y del Nuevo Mundo que representaban temas religiosos y seculares decoraban las casas de criollos, españoles peninsulares, mestizos y también de hombres y mujeres indígenas.

Las cinco pinturas andinas sobre esta pared fueron pintadas por artistas anónimos en talleres de Cuzco para el creciente mercado artístico local. Aunque en Hispanoamérica predominaban las pinturas religiosas, este género era muy poco común en la América colonial británica; una excepción fueron las pinturas de las Sagradas Escrituras hechas en Nueva York para las familias holandesas de los Valles del Hudson Superior y del Mohawk (ver ilustración).

Las casas de la élite hispanoamericana también exhibían pinturas españolas y flamencas, que cada año viajaban al Nuevo Mundo en barcos españoles para ser ofrecidas por comerciantes en toda Hispanoamérica.

ARTIST Cuzco School
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
  • Place Made: Cuzco, Peru
  • DATES late 17th century
    PERIOD Colonial Period
    DIMENSIONS 21 x 87in. (53.3 x 221cm) frame: 23 7/16 x 89 5/8 x 2 3/8 in. (59.5 x 227.6 x 6 cm)  (show scale)
    INSCRIPTIONS Inscribed on tree at right: "SOPHRO/NIA"
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 48.206.88
    CREDIT LINE Frank L. Babbott Fund, Frank Sherman Benson Fund, Carll H. de Silver Fund, A. Augustus Healy Fund, Caroline A.L. Pratt Fund, Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, and Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
    CAPTION Cuzco School. The Legend of Santa Sophronia, late 17th century. Oil on canvas, 21 x 87in. (53.3 x 221cm). Brooklyn Museum, Frank L. Babbott Fund, Frank Sherman Benson Fund, Carll H. de Silver Fund, A. Augustus Healy Fund, Caroline A.L. Pratt Fund, Charles Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, and Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund, 48.206.88 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 48.206.88_PS6.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 48.206.88_PS6.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2012
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions
    This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.