Cristóbal de Villalpando

Cristóbal de Villalpando (1645-1714), Mexican painter of the colonial period. Villalpando’s paintings draw on the dramatic compositions and contrasts of light and dark that characterize the baroque style in Europe. To this style he added his own looser brushwork, as well as distortions of anatomy and perspective derived from the 16th-century European style of mannerism.

Villalpando completed a great number of projects, probably with the assistance of a large workshop. Many of these works are enormous wall and ceiling paintings. Among the most significant are four monumental paintings (1684-1686) for the sacristy of the Cathedral of Mexico in Mexico City and the Apotheosis of the Eucharist (1688) covering the dome of the Capilla de los Reyes (Chapel of the Kings), in the Cathedral of Puebla. Like many of his contemporaries, Villalpando studied prints of works by European masters, including Spanish artist Juan de Valdés Leal and Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. He often borrowed compositions and other elements from these masters, giving old images new meanings. An example of this is The Church Militant (1686), one of Villalpando’s Cathedral of Mexico paintings, in which he borrows the image of the Virgin and Child (about 1675-1680, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City) from Spanish artist Bartolomé Murillo. This image, also known as the Santiago Madonna, is employed as a symbol of charity in Villalpando’s piece.

Little is known of Villalpando’s early life. He is thought to have been born in Mexico City, and possibly to have trained with local artist Diego de Mendoza, whose daughter he married, or Baltasar de Echave Rioja. In 1686 he was named an officer of the Mexico City painters’ guild. Villalpando’s works include city views such as Market at the Zócalo, Mexico City (1695, private collection, England), as well as portraits and devotional pictures.