The island of Puerto Rico ('Rich Port') was settled by the Spaniards in 1508 soon after Christopher Columbus's second voyage. While it was not exactly ignored by the Spanish crown, the island was depleted of its gold in the sixteenth century, so its residents had to develop other means of trade. They worked with horse-breeding and export, sugar, cattle, coffee. They built cities and towns.
Because of its importance mostly as a military outpost, Puerto Rico was not a New World epicenter of intellectual life, culture, and fashion from abroad that was characteristic of the centers of power in New Spain and South America.
By the eighteenth century, the island was certainly influenced by Rococo and Enlightenment ideas and style, and some strong intellectual and artistic personalities distinguished themselves in the Spanish Colonial Caribbean. Perhaps none is so beloved as the favorite son of Puerto Rico, the painter José Campeche y Jordán (1751- 1809), the mulatto son of a Black Freeman and a mother from the Canary Islands.
Jose Campeche became Puerto Rico's most accomplished eighteenth-century painter. He was a well-versed in the Liberal Arts, and a devout Catholic who lived his life modestly in the service of his church and his large family. He became a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic, and his artistic output included numerous religious subjects for more than one religious order. Post-1775, during the short exile to Puerto Rico of the Spanish pintor de cámara, Luis Paret, Campeche found new inspiration for his technique and subject-matter. Campeche's portraits of governors, bishops, soldiers, learned men, and other members of Puerto Rican society were among the best works produced in all of the Viceregal Americas.
His characteristic attention to the smallest details of his subject's face and uniform style are evident in this fine and newly-discovered portrait of a young military officer. Campeche's sisters said that his portraits "were such good likenesses that they could almost speak." This likeness was probably made as a portable keepsake for a member of the officer's family. Serious, but by no means somber, it is a work by a painter at the height of his craft, and an exciting addition to Campeche's oeuvre.
| [HOME] [Colonial Mexico] [Colonial Peru][New Granada] [Caribbean][Europe] [Contact Us] |