Portrait of Francisca Ramírez de Arellano

Juan Cordero was a Mexican muralist who incorporated religious motifs (as seen in his mural artworks at Santa Teresa Historic Church) and was the first artist to take a subject from American history, as his painting "Columbus before the Catholic Monarchs" deviates from the traditional narrative of the Conquest and evangelization, introducing elements of critical analysis of the subject. One of his murals, titled "The Redeemer and the 'Adulterous Woman,'" was the first religious mural in Mexico. However, much of his work is said to be in private collections around the world. Cordero was also a portraitist, and he created many of these types of artworks, which depicted the most famous figures of his time. For this reason, Cordero is regarded as one of the most emblematic artists of nineteenth-century Romanticism. His works reflect his independent personality and temperament in what was the movement for new esthetic principles, both in subject and color. The portrait of Francisca Ramírez de Arellano, shown above, encapsulates the stylistic elements that characterize the painter’s work. It is a piece with a composition based on classical models, yet one that already conveys a sensibility, projected by the female figure, that is much more closely associated with Romanticism. This 1857 painting, an oil on canvas measuring 98 × 78 cm, has been featured in Cordero’s major exhibitions, such as the tribute exhibition held at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (INBA) from 1972 to 1973.