GONZÁLEZ WORKSHOP, Saint Joachim, Saint Anne and the Virgin, Mexico, late 17th century early 18th century

This fine painting describes Saint Joachim, Saint Anne and the Virgin as a Child, skilfully executed and with good resolution, light effects, delineation and colouring, with predominant shades of ochre, red and grey. This has been a common subject of Novohispanic and European art, representing the different stages of the Virgin's life. The painting captures the moment at which the parents of the Virgin, who appear in the foreground, are leading the Child Virgin by the hand to the temple in order to be consecrated to God. Above them we see the allegory of the Holy Spirit and God the Father. This work, given its excellent quality with which it was executed, surely comes from the workshop of Juan González and Miguel González.

The skin color of the figures and the angels were executed in oil paint, as well the dove, representing the Holy Spirit. In short, oil paint was used to recreate whatever could not be done with mother-of-pearl.

In this work we find mother-of-pearl inlay in the frame, the clothing and in the figure of the Holy Father, above the Holy Spirit. One interesting detail is that the inlay of the clothing is divided into various fragments, and the folds in the fabric are minutely traced in oil paint. In short, this is a type of painting that, despite its scant resources, faithfully depicts scenes from the life of the Virgin. The mother-ofpearl inlay reflects the light thereby lending the work a special sort of iridescent luminosity.

This is most certainly a work carried out on commission and aimed, at private worship, its small format indicates it. It is important to point out that this paintings' frame also boast the same mother-of-pearl inlay technique, with decorative motifs including a simple combination of flowers, petals and birds, which shows that both painting and frame were closely related, each with the other.

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