López de Arteaga, Sebastián (1610–1652)
López de Arteaga, Sebastián (1610–1652)
Sebastián López de Arteaga (b. 15 March 1610; d. 1652), painter. Born in Seville, López de Arteaga was examined as a painter in 1630. In 1638 he was in Cádiz; around 1640 he embarked for New Spain, where in 1642 he erected and decorated an arch with mythological subjects to celebrate the arrival of Viceroy García Sarmiento De Sotomayor y Luna. López de Arteaga is credited with introducing into New Spain the tenebrist style of Francisco de Zurbarán, who some scholars claim had been his teacher. He sought, and with some success won, the patronage of the Inquisition. Although documents attest to López de Arteaga's considerable activity, only eight paintings can be ascribed to him with certainty, and even some of those are problematic. One of the most famous is the Incredulity of Saint Thomas (1643). More difficult is the Marriage of the Virgin, quite dissimilar and the subject of much discussion over what constitutes this master's style.
See alsoArt: The Colonial Era; New Spain, Viceroyalty of.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Xavier Moyssen, "Sebastián de Arteaga, 1610–1652," in Anales del Instituto de investigaciones estéticas 59 (1988): 17-34.
Manuel Toussaint, Colonial Art in Mexico (1967).
Clara Bargellini