Miguel Cabrera: Las Reglas del Arte de un Pintor Novohispano (Copy)

This exhibition is the culmination of a project being carried out at the Museo de América in Madrid since 2019, to study and conserve The Life of the Virgin series by the painter Miguel Cabrera (1695–1768). Of indigenous and Spanish ancestry, Cabrera was a renowned figure, painting both religious and secular art, including some of the ‘casta’ paintings which illustrate and classify mestizaje (racial mixing) in Mexico’s colonial society. He was also one of the artists who contributed to the propagation of the icon and faith in the Virgin of Guadalupe. The exhibition is the first in Spain dedicated to Cabrera, his life, work and the technical study of his painting.

The Life of the Virgin project brought together numerous professionals from different Spanish and Latin American museum and academic institutions. Their work has contributed important advances in the knowledge of Baroque painting in New Spain and the conservation of its painting on canvas. The exhibition includes twenty-three pictorial works belonging mainly to the collections of the Museum of America, as well as bibliographic loans from the National Library of Spain.

The exhibition website includes a film about the paintings’ conservation and several free downloadable publications (in Spanish).