Cristóbal de Villalpando

Cristóbal de Villalpando (ca. 1649 – 20 August 1714) was a Baroque Criollo artist from New Spain, arts administrator and captain of the guard. He painted prolifically and produced many Baroque works now displayed in several Mexican cathedrals, including the cathedrals in Querétaro, Puebla and Mexico City, as well as a depiction of the Zócalo (main square) in Mexico City, showing the damage of the 1692 riot to the viceregal palace three years earlier.

Life Born in Mexico City to the influential Villalpando family, Cristóbal assumed duties in the local militia as an ensign, as well as painting with Baltasar de Echave Rioja (Echave the Younger) in the Echave workshop. In 1669, he married María de Mendoza and they had four children. He received several religious art commissions, both in Mexico City and in Puebla. Other paintings by his hand are found in the sacristy of the Mexico City Cathedral.

Villalpando rose to the rank of captain and in 1686 was named one of three directors of the painters' guild in Mexico, the position he served several times as director (veedor).

Villapando died in Mexico City in 1714 and was buried there.

Style

Villalpando's early works attest to the influence of Peter Paul Rubens;

For the sacristy of the Mexico City cathedral he painted It was subsequently featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Villalpando exhibition, Mexican Painter of the Baroque, in 2017.

Gallery