The Human Element: Painters and the Profession in Early Colonial Quito

Join us for this special program that forms part of our ’Distinguished Speakers in the Art of the Spanish Americas’ Series. Our guest speaker Susan V. Webster, Professor Emerita of Art History and American Studies, The College of William and Mary (and The University of Texas at Austin Alumna) will discuss the work of Andean Painters in Early Colonial Quito.

What’s in a name? The historiography of colonial Latin American art is rife with lamentations over the widespread anonymity of early colonial painters. Yet, should naming matter? Can it help us better understand colonial painters, their profession, and, by extension, the images they produced? This talk focuses on painters in early colonial Quito in order to examine issues related to the politics of naming, artistic agency, professional practices, and the European “life-work” model of art historical inquiry. Far from establishing a “canon” along European lines or tempting us to parse hybridity in the images themselves, the archival recovery of named painters and aspects of their lives offers fragmentary but compelling insights into the human element that remains largely invisible in early colonial paintings.

Dr. Webster is the author of Lettered Artists and the Languages of Empire: Painters and the Profession in Early Colonial Quito, an award winning book published in 2017 by UT Press. She is also the author of Art and ritual in Golden-Age Spain : Sevillian confraternities and the processional sculpture of Holy Week, another award winning book published in 1998.

This event will take place in our Capitol Room, located in the Smith Building across the plaza (upstairs from the Blanton Café). Please feel welcome to bring your lunch. Seating is limited so please arrive at least 10-15 minutes prior to the event to secure your place.

The Blanton is located at the intersection of Congress Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Paid parking is available in the Blanton/Brazos Garage on Brazos Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Parking is $4; bring your ticket with you to the front desk of the museum for payment and validation.

IMAGE CREDIT
Andrés Sánchez Gallque, Portrait of Don Francisco de Arobe and his sons Don Pedro and Don Domingo, Quito (Ecuador), 1599, Oil on canvas, Museo de América (Madrid)