Portrait of Doña Dolores Tosta de Santa Anna

Juan Cordero was a well-known exponent of the school of Romantic-style Academic art that stressed the sublime, the exotic and the suggestive. Surrounded by the luxurious furnishings of a room in the National Palace (the official residence of the Mexican President at that rime) stands Dolores Tosta, the second wife of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, who was known by the common people as Dolores Tosta de Satanás (Dolores Tosta of Satan). At the age of 17, Tosta married the president, whose age tripled her own, on the 3rd of October, 1844. Behind Tosta there is an opening framed by Neoclassical pillars through which can be seen, in stumped tones, a grove that shaded the Paseo de las Cadenas ("Promenade of the Chains") and the west tower of the cathedral. The central figure is wearing a tiara adorned with the Mexican national coat of arms and holding a handkerchief and feathered fan, while the scene is so filled with monarchical paraphernalia that it looks overloaded, producing an effect of luxurious intimacy. The physical attributes of Tosta were enhanced by Cordero, whose polished depiction of textures, bold coloring and ability to impart a smooth, somewhat idealized, marbled tone to his subject´s skin are noteworthy. Doña Dolores seems to be preparing to preside over an official ceremony, perhaps a religious one as was then deemed "the duty of the First lady". This would explain the implied link between her and the cathedral in the background. Cordero hoped that this, along with other works sponsored by Santa Anna, would garner him the support he needed to secure the much coveted appointment of director of the painting department of the San Carlos Academy, for which he was openly competing with the then holder of the position, the Barcelonaborn Pelegrín Clavé. This work, of great documentary and historical importance, was donated to the MUNAL by the historian, Arturo Arnáiz y Freg in 1983.