Private Devotions, Furniture and Household Objects in Viceregal and 19th Century Art

The pair of lower closets referred to are pieces from the famous French cabinetmaker and decorator Andre-Charles Boulle,  who was recognized worldwide for the mastery with which they worked fine marquetry on natural materials, and the use of bronzes made golden by heat. There are allusions in Latin legends through mythological figures (Mercury and the Fame) to the earthly transcendence of the monarch and his efforts for peace, in addition to highlighting his facet as a builder and protector of the arts.     

The table is a neo-colonial product. It is, then, a reinterpretation very pertinent to the first half of the 20th century, guided by the Hispanic zeal in the face of Mexican nationalism. The lower part, which includes exuberant decoration based on the guidelines of the horror vacui (horror of emptiness) There is also a decoration of vegetal motifs, and it has clawed balled legs.

Recipient with a globular, ovoid body with a bulbous shape on which a vertical edge is raised in the shape of a ring. It is a notable piece that reproduces a typology of which there are few examples. The model, inspired by the ancient Greco-Roman cups, became popular among craftsmen who worked in the capital during the nineteenth century.

This painting is signed by Miguel Cabrera, an extremely important painter from the middle of the 18th century due to his influence work. Saint Dominic appears dressed with his white habit and a black cape, and with the attributes that distinguish him: the star on the forehead, the beads on the neck, the book that identifies him as learned, the lily of purity, and a banner with the white and black flower of light. 

This great painting is undoubtedly one of the most important pictorial pieces in the Amparo Museum Collection due to its quality, age and author, the Flemish Diego de Borgraf came to Puebla in 1640.  The piece represents, with great care and great detail, an intimate moment in which the founder of the Seraphic Order prays in the field while a warm golden light comes down from the sky to symbolize the relationship of the saint with God, who inspires him.

This work, which represents the family of the Virgin Mary, features detailed, harmonious and expressive craftsmanship, common in paintings on copper laminate, although in this case of quite considerable dimensions. The work, from an excellent but anonymous brush, approaches the compositions and artistic style of some of the most important artists of the second half of the 18th century in the vice-royal capital.    

Free-standing sculpture showing the Archangel Michael as a young gallant, winged and with crimped hair. He is portrayed standing on a cluster of clouds from which emerge four serene angelic faces and blue wings, symbolizing that Michael is the prince of angels and the envoy of God.

The sculptural ensemble of Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus is known as Bethlehem, The Nativity Scene or The Birth of Christ.  Although there have been pictorial representations of the birth of Christ since the dawn of Christianity, the sculptural custom of reproducing the birth of Jesus to celebrate Christmas was introduced by Saint Francis of Assisi during the 14th Century in Italy.

  This delicate, small-format couple represents the parents of the Virgin Mary: Saint Joaquin and Saint Anne, who are alone, without their Daughter.  Saint Anne affords us one of the rare examples in which the mother of the Virgin is not represented as an old woman, but with a very young face.

Based upon its characteristics, it represents Saint Francis of Assisi, being the most significant of the piece the presence of visible stigmata on both hands and the side; these allude to the passage dated to 1224, when the monk withdrew to Mount Alverno to be alone.