Funeral of Saint Rose

Teófilo Castillo stands out in the first two decades of the twentieth century as the most significant figure in Peruvian art. As a teacher, he encouraged open air painting among the students who attended his informal classes at his studio at the Quinta Heeren. As a critic, from the pages of Lima’s magazines he defended the possibility of a national art, calling for the formation of the School of Fine Arts. His painting, on the other hand, does not display this combative character. Rooted in the contemporary rise of Creole literature, his art expresses a nostalgic recreation of Lima’s colonial past based upon the literary evocations of Ricardo Palma, the famous author of Peruvian Traditions. In the Funeral of Saint Rose, one of his largest works in this vein, Castillo opts for literary anecdote and narrative description. The canvas depicts the funeral cortege of the seventeenth century Lima saint, which the artist imagines as a lavish and well-attended ceremony. In this idealized world there is no place for historical accuracy: anachronistically, the procession passes Torre Tagle Palace, a building constructed in the eighteenth century. The light tones and short, light brushstrokes testify to the decisive influence of the Spanish painter Mariano Fortuny (1838-1874), whose work Castillo had seen during his second trip to Europe in 1908. (NM)