Andrés de la Concha was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 who is considered one of the best painters of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. De la Concha was born in Seville

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

 and came to the New World

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

 in 1568. He was an active painter from 1575 to 1612 and his work is preserved in several Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 cathedrals, including the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary of Mexico City is the largest and oldest cathedral in the Americas and seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico. It is situated atop the former Aztec sacred precinct near the Templo Mayor on the northern side of the Plaza de la...

.

Artwork

In 1587 the Sevillian artist Andrés de la Concha, who also created retablos for the grand Oaxacan missions of Yanhuitlan, Coixtlahuaca

Coixtlahuaca

Coixtlahuaca was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican state in the Mixteca Alta . Coixtlahuaca was a multi-ethnic polity, inhabited by both Chochos and Mixtecs. In addition to the Chocho and Mixtec languages, Nahuatl was used as a lingua franca...

 and Teposcolula, entered into a contract with the town of Tamazulapan to fabricate and decorate a main retablo for the new church, at the then princely sum of 2000 pesos.

Little now survives of the 16th century altarpiece. As at Yanhuitlan and Coixtlahuaca

Coixtlahuaca

Coixtlahuaca was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican state in the Mixteca Alta . Coixtlahuaca was a multi-ethnic polity, inhabited by both Chochos and Mixtecs. In addition to the Chocho and Mixtec languages, Nahuatl was used as a lingua franca...

, the original retablo was later enlarged and reframed, at Tamazulapan in a rich baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

style replete with intricately carved spiral columns and decorative shell niches containing many new paintings and sculptures. This splendid gilded retablo, which rises in four main tiers and spans seven vertical divisions(calles) in a dynamic, screen-like format, has been fully restored and reassembled to once again dominate the east end of the church.

The Paintings

Although the later addition and misplacement of the artworks has made the original iconography and artistic attribution uncertain, it is believed that four of the ten original paintings contracted for by De la Concha still remain in the present retablo, together with one or two early statues of the Apostles.

The four large canvases attributed to De la Concha are located in the outer calles of the retablo and comprise: 1) The Adoration of the Magi; 2) The Adoration of the Shepherds - the juxtaposition of these two themes or scenes was especially favored in the Americas; 3) The Annunciation; and 4) The Presentation at the Temple, or Circumcision. This last work repeats a theme seen in Andrés de la Concha's work at Yanhuitlan and bears some similarity to the composition and palette used at nearby Coixtlahuaca - a style that might be described as Italian Mannerism with a mellow Andalusian flavor.