Gallery 5: The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila (Cuzco Series)

Abstract

Adriaen Collaert (c.1560-1618) and Cornelis Galle I (1576-1650) designed a series of twenty four engravings on the life of Saint Teresa de Avila. This series, plus the title plate above, was published in Antwerp in 1613, undergoing multiple editions in 1622 and, supposedly in 1677 as well (Diels, Leesberg and Balis 2006, Part IV, 246).

The series of Collaert and Galle served as the basis of a series of sixteen paintings executed by José Espinoza de los Monteros en 1682 (Mebold 1987, 55). These paintings hang now in the Church of the Carmelite Convent in Cuzco, Peru. They are displayed on the nave of the church, eight per side. The last painting of the series bears the signature shown below (Mesa and Gisbert 1982, 92f).

HAEC Spinosa breui pensilo signa Colorat anno 1682

(Spinosa colors the images in this small pendant in the year 1682). We have collected in this gallery the correspondences between the Collaert-Galle series and the set of paintings by José Espinoza de los Monteros. To visit this gallery, follow the navigation panel below throughout this website. To move through the gallery, click on the down-arrow; to retrace your steps, click on the up-arrow.