Bartholomew Fabro y Palacios, Bishop of Huamanga

This work shows Bartholomew Fabro y Palacios, a priest born in Logroño (Spain), who servedas Bishop of Huamanga from 1792 until his death three years later. The composition adheres to the pomp and conventions of eighteenth century portraiture: thus the prelate appears standing full-length next to a heavy curtain and a table, on which are displayed a series of objects that indicate the devotion and intellectual qualities of the subject. The canvas is signed on the back by José Núñez de Sotomayor, a painter of whom we know almost nothing, but whose technique allows us to propose as was one of the most important masters of Huamanga, capital of the diocese. Even though the painters of Huamanga demonstrated a certain independence from the models propagated from the nearby city of , they shared a similar artistic language, characterized by the extreme idealization and a lack of spatial depth. On the basis of this formal repertory, Núñez de Sotomayor appears to have been aware of the new demands for simplicity of turn of century taste, as demonstrated in the rigorous line drawing of the picture and its austere neutral background.