Mexican Memorial Painting at the Fowler
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| Unknown Mexican artist, Nuestra Amada Sopita (Our Beloved Sofie), 19th century. Fowler Museum at UCLA, gift of Donald B. and Dorothy M. Cordry |
Another group of portraits exemplify the "crowned nun" genre. A daughter who took the vows of a monastic order was commemorated in an allegoric portrait with crown of flowers, palm frond, and circular badge. Both these and the posthumous portraits would be displayed their family's home, commemorating a member who could never cross the threshold again.
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| Unknown, Portrait of Most Reverend Mother Sister Maria Mónica del Corazón de Jesús, 1886. Fowler Museum, gift of Dorothy M. Cordry in Memory of Donald B. Cordry |
The museum's website is offering a Matterport virtual tour of the exhibition. Matterport is a platform used for real estate listings. Seller or landlord snaps a few photos, and Matterport assembles them into a virtual 3D tour. Museum shows would be an off-label application, but it works well here.
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| Matterport tour of "Descanse en Paz" |
Virtual visitors start with a view of the square gallery from the entrance. Clicking on foreshortened circles on the floor shifts the viewpoint to that spot. Clicking on circles near labels expand gallery texts and the associated objects. The visitor can view every object and label as well as seeing them in context. The drawback, though it's significant, is that there's no way of getting a high-resolution view of objects.
"Descanse en Paz: Memorial Paintings from 19th-Century Mexico" is at the Fowler through Nov. 3, 2024.
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| Unknown, portrait, 19th century. Fowler Museum at UCLA, gift of Donald B. and Dorothy M. Cordry |
Comments
The most haunting one I've seen is in Philadelphia: "Mrs. Peale Lamenting the Death of Her Child", of 1772, was enlarged in 1776, and retouched in 1818. The artist is Charles Willson Peale (American, 1741–1827). The portrait is of his deceased infant daughter.
The original picture featured the child alone, who had died in the same year she was born. The portrait of the mother, Rachel Peale (American, 1744–1790), was added later.
The online catalog at the Philadelphia Museum of Art notes, in part:
Viewing the picture in 1776, John Adams, future president of the United States, wrote he was "much moved by it." In 1782 Peale advertised "Mrs. Peale Lamenting the Death of Her Child" as a feature of his new painting room but sequestered it behind a curtain, on which was pinned the warning "Before you draw this curtain Consider whether you will afflict a Mother or Father who has lost a Child."
https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/71982