The Infant Jesus with Angelic Musicians

Much has been written about the loose brushwork and bright colors of Juan Correa, an artist pertaining to the period when neo-Hispanic baroque was at its peak, but perhaps one of the most noteworthy facts is that, though Correa was a mulatto, the color of his skin did not impede his paintings from attaining enormous success. In this small-scale work, we can note the significance afforded to liturgical music, it being important to appreciate that both hearing and sight were deemed to be higher senses in that period. The depiction of the infant Jesus accompanied by angelic musicians is exceptional and recent research has shown that the musical scores shown in this piece are those of a hymn of praise that was sung on the 19th of March, the day of the feast of Saint Joseph. The representation of angels in Correa’s work is also deemed pertinent, and it has been suggested that the painter might have been alluding to his own mixed race by portraying mulatto angels in some of his paintings. In this work, the dark-skinned possible angel is playing the cornet just behind the infant Jesus. This painting passed to the MUNAL from the San Diego Viceregal Painting Gallery in the year 2000.