José Nicolás de la Escalera

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José Nicolás de Escalera (1734 – 1804) was a Cuban painter specializing in religious scenes and portraits. He is often described as "Cuba's first painter", having been the earliest native-born artist to create a large, surviving body of professional work. [1]

Cuba Country in the Caribbean

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean meet. It is east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the U.S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. The area of the Republic of Cuba is 110,860 square kilometres (42,800 sq mi). The island of Cuba is the largest island in Cuba and in the Caribbean, with an area of 105,006 square kilometres (40,543 sq mi), and the second-most populous after Hispaniola, with over 11 million inhabitants.

Contents

Self-portrait of the painter Jose Nicolas de Escalera, who appears in the composition of one of the paintings of the Parochial Church of Our Lady of the Rosary (Cotorro, Havana, Cuba), entitled "Santo Domingo and the Noble Family of Casa Bayona". Jose Nicolas de Escalera.jpg
Self-portrait of the painter José Nicolás de Escalera, who appears in the composition of one of the paintings of the Parochial Church of Our Lady of the Rosary (Cotorro, Havana, Cuba), entitled "Santo Domingo and the Noble Family of Casa Bayona".

Life and work

De Escalera was born in San Cristobal de la Habana to an Andalusian father and a Creole mother on September 8, 1734. [3] Little is known about his artistic education; he appears to have been self-trained, and his work bears some resemblance to that of the eighteenth-century Andalusian school, especially paintings by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Most of his work was religious in nature. He is particularly known for the oils that adorn the cupola of the Church of Santa María del Rosario, erected by the Counts of Bayona from 1760 - 1766. [4] He also executed works at the Convent of San Francisco in Havana (Regina Angelorum) and the Church of Our Lady of Candelaria in Guanabacoa (San José with the sleeping child and The Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity). [1]

Havana Capital city in La Habana, Cuba

Havana is the capital city, largest city, province, major port, and leading commercial center of Cuba. The city has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of 781.58 km2 (301.77 sq mi) – making it the largest city by area, the most populous city, and the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region.

Andalusia Autonomous community of Spain

Andalusia is an autonomous community in southern Spain. It is the most populous, and the second largest autonomous community in the country. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The territory is divided into eight provinces: Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and Seville. Its capital is the city of Seville.

Creole people are ethnic groups which originated during the colonial-era from racial mixing between Europeans and non-European peoples, known as creolisation. Creole peoples vary widely in ethnic background and mixture, and many have since developed distinct ethnic identities. The development of creole languages is sometimes mistakenly attributed to the emergence of creole ethnic identities; however, they are independent developments.

De Escalera occasionally did portraits, such as his painting of Luis Vicente de Velasco e Isla, a Spanish naval hero. This was offered to King Carlos III in 1763, and remains in the collection of the Naval Museum of Madrid. [1]

La Santisima Trinidad (ca. 1770), Jose Nicolas de Escalera. Collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba. Jose Nicolas de Escalera - La Santisima Trinidad.JPG
La Santísima Trinidad (ca. 1770), José Nicolás de Escalera. Collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.

De Escalera worked mainly in oils. He was the first Cuban-born artist known to have left a sizable body of work; he is also the first Cuban fine artist to have depicted slaves, as seen in his work Santo Domingo preaches to the Bayonne and Chacón family at the Church of Santa Maria del Rosario. He likely saw himself as a devout craftsman simply executing commissions for patrons in a popular baroque style, and was not especially concerned with originality; [3] [5] however, some of his works, such as Virgen (1801), show glimmers of the bold, colorful naturalism which would one day come to define Cuban art.

Oil paint type of slow-drying paint

Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varnish may be added to increase the glossiness of the dried oil paint film. Oil paints have been used in Europe since the 12th century for simple decoration, but were not widely adopted as an artistic medium until the early 15th century. Common modern applications of oil paint are in finishing and protection of wood in buildings and exposed metal structures such as ships and bridges. Its hard-wearing properties and luminous colors make it desirable for both interior and exterior use on wood and metal. Due to its slow-drying properties, it has recently been used in paint-on-glass animation. Thickness of coat has considerable bearing on time required for drying: thin coats of oil paint dry relatively quickly.

Cuban art

Cuban art is an exceptionally diverse cultural blend of African, South American, European and North American elements, reflecting the diverse demographic makeup of the island. Cuban artists embraced European modernism, and the early part of the 20th century saw a growth in Cuban avant-garde movements, which were characterized by the mixing of modern artistic genres. Some of the more celebrated 20th-century Cuban artists include Amelia Peláez (1896–1968), best known for a series of mural projects, and painter Wifredo Lam, who created a highly personal version of modern primitivism. The Cuban born painter Federico Beltran Masses (1885–1949), was renowned as a colourist whose seductive portrayals of women sometimes made overt references to the tropical settings of his childhood.

There are about fifty known examples of his work in collections in Cuba, Spain, and the United States, including many which can be seen at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana, and the College of San Geronimo's Jose Nicolas de Escalera Art Gallery in Havana. [6] A handful remain in the churches and institutions where they were originally painted. [1]

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana Fine Arts Museum in Havana, Cuba

The National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana in Havana, Cuba is a museum of Fine Arts that exhibits Cuban art collections from the colonial times up to contemporary generations.

De Escalera died in Havana on July 3, 1804. [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 En Caribe:Encyclopedia de Historia y Cultura del Caribe: Jose Nicolas de Escolera y Dominguez; http://www.encaribe.org/es/article/jose-nicolas-de-escalera-y-dominguez/1329 retvd 12 26 15
  2. ↑ Presentation: Approach to the possible identification of the characters of the work "Santo Domingo and the Noble Family of Casa Bayona" by the Cuban painter José Nicolás de Escalera, Orelvis Rodríguez Morales, II Prize at the "XVIII Symposium of the City" ", Havana, 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 Cultura Cubana: Jose Nicolas de Escalera and Dominguez (1734 - 1804), his paintings; https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://culturacubana.net/jose-nicolas-de-la-escalera-y-dominguez-1734-1804-sus-obras-pictoricas/&prev=search retvd 12 26 15
  4. ↑ Cernuda Arte: biography of Jose Nicolas de Escalera; http://www.cernudaarte.com/artists/jose-nicolas-de-la-escalera/ retvd 12 26 15
  5. ↑ Art Experts:Jose Nicolas de Escalera (1734-1804); http://www.artexpertswebsite.com/pages/artists/delaescalera.php retvd 12 26 15
  6. ↑ Habana Patrimonial-Art gallery Jose Nicolas de la Escalera; https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.ohch.cu/centros-culturales/galeria-de-arte-jose-nicolas-de-la-escalera/&prev=search retvd 1 1 16

Veerle Poupeye. Caribbean Art. London; Thames and Hudson; 1998.

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