Libertas Mexicana

The foundation in 1783 of the Royal San Carlos Academy signified the unfolding of the Bourbon cultural project which, imposed from Spain, favored the Neoclassical style —a predilection for the austere, severe, symmetrical art that prevailed in classical times, among the Greeks and Romans— over the Baroque one. In the early XIXth century, Patino Ixtolinque was the forerunner of Neoclassical Academicism in sculpture, and the teacher of José María Labastida who, in his own right, succeeded in obtaining a scholarship to study in Europe in 1825. It was in France that Labastida produced this high relief including both allegorical depictions of the newborn Mexican nation six years after Independence, and Greco-Roman elements. The composition consists of a triangle at whose central axis there is a matron with pre-Hispanic features -i.e. a veritable symbol of the new nations identity, seated as she is on a pedestal inscribed with epigrams and holding a shield alluding to the founding of Tenochtitlan. On the left is Phidias, the famous Sculptor of classical times, depicted as a young man and representing the noble art of sculpture. Opposite him, balancing the composition, is a matron crowned with a laurel wreath, personifying the ancient Gallic province of Lutetia, the predecessor of present-day Paris. The artist thus commemorated the first Franco-Mexican trade agreement, betokening recognition of the newly founded Mexican nation as a sovereign state about to partake of Western progress, while also symbolizing Mexicos identity and "glorious" past. The Latin inscription, inviting the triumphant young country to lay down its arms, while its feats are acknowledged in the inspiration of Phidias and the approval of Lutetia, announces Mexican liberty to the whole universe. This work was sent from Paris to form part of the collection of the San Carlos Academy in 1827. It passed to the MUNAL from the Santo Domingo Cultural Center in 1988.