Saint Rose of Lima

The Sevillian painter José de Pozo was one of the most prestigious artists of the early nineteenth century. Having arrived in Lima in 1790 as an illustrator to the scientific expedition commanded by Alejandro Malaspina, Pozo resigned his post in order to remain indefinitely in the Peruvian capital. He acquired a local prestige through his participation in various decorative projects by Matías Maestro, the force behind the classicist artistic renewal of Lima. The painter is better known for his ambitious religious compositions and architectural perspectives, full of dramatic foreshortenings and light effects. Together with this type of works, he produced numerous canvases in smaller formats, in which, he replicated part of the theatricality of his major works. A good example is the representation of this Saint Rose of Lima, which has been attributed to him by the art historian Luis Eduardo Wuffarden. The image re-works the central figure of the scene of apotheosis that the Sevillian painted for the larger altar painting at the church of Santa Rosa de los Padres. Despite the saint being represented in an ecstatic mystical trance, Pozo here succeeds in generating a certain dynamic effect by the twist of the body and the treatment of the folds of the dress. (RK)