Circle of CRISTOBAL DE VILLALPANDO
(Mexican, ca. 1680)

The Archangel Gabriel

Oil on canvas
66 x 33 inches
(167,6 x 83.8 cm)

Provenance:

Private Collection, Cranston, Rhode Island (by the 1950s?); by family descent until sold at:

Bill Spicer Auction, North Kingstown, Rhode Island, 26 January 2011; where acquired by a dealer who consigned it to:

CRN Auctions, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1 May 2011, lot 69

Private Collection, California 2011–2013

CRN Auctions, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 6 January 2013, lot 10.

Heroic depictions of the angels are one of the most appealing subjects in Spanish colonial paintings and the great Mexican baroque painter Cristóbal de Villalpando (1649–1714) painted several, whether as part of larger compositions or individually—as in the painting in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford (Figs. 1-2); San Pedro Cholula, Puebla; and the Templo de la Magdalena Coacalco, Berriozábal. Dr. Orlando Hernandez-Ying of the Hispanic Society of America, and the author of “Angels in the Americas: Paintings of Aprocryphal Angels in Spain and its American Viceroyalties” has proposed Cristóbal de Villalpando as the author of this unpublished painting of the Archangel Gabriel, long in an American collection. While the style of the present work is manifestly close to that of the artist, the painting is unsigned.  And as the rendering of the drapery in motion seems less flamboyant (and the Angel more grounded) than seen in many of Villalpando’s paintings, we have cautiously qualified the attribution pending further research.

Gabriel is venerated by Jews, Christians, and Moslems. His name derives from the Hebrew “Gav’riel,” meaning “God is my strength,” and his role in all religions is as the direct messenger of God. In the Hebrew Bible Gabriel arrives to interpret the vision of the Prophet Daniel; in the New Testament he foretells the births of John the Baptist and Jesus (the Annunciation); while Mohammed relates that it was Gabriel who dictated the Koran to him, sura by sura. Here he holds the traditional attribute of a lily, his wings resplendent behind him. His robes billow in the wind as he stands on a cloud, steadying himself with a long staff or taper. He is in heaven, but directing his gaze at us on earth, visually underscoring his position as intermediary between God and man.