Saint Cecilia

The artist was born in Seville and probable received his artistic training in the workshops of Andalusia and with the painter, Luis de Vargas. In 1568 he came to America, where paintings by him are recorded up to 1612. Concha worked in the Oaxaca region in 1570 and was an important figure in that area, especially for the Dominicans. He produced the altarpieces for the churches of Coixtlahuaca and Yanhuitlán in 1575, and for that of Teposcolula in 1580. Among his oeuvre is the portrait of Saint Cecilia, a figure seldom depicted in neo-Hispanic art. It is a fascinating piece, due both to its imagery and to its cold, strident colors. The painting contains a pyramidal composition depicting the patron saint of musicians being garlanded with flowers by an angel who is descending from heaven and entering the foreground of the work. Belonging to a Christianized Roman family, at an early age Cecilia decided to devote her life to God, but her father married her to the patrician, Valerian. Legend has it that, at her wedding, while the musicians played, she inwardly sang hymns. She was tortured and beheaded, and her remains were later transferred to the church of Saint Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome. A group of angelic musicians appears circling the saint in the upper part of the work, some of them playing an instrument while others are singing, and yet others holding musical scores. The Virgin and Child are to be seen crowning the scene in a burst of glory. In addition to this piece, the MUNAL holds The Holy Family and The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, works by the same author which, originally displayed in the San Diego Viceregal Painting Gallery, passed to it in the year 2000.