Alonso Lopez de Herrera is a pioneer Mannerist painter of the 17th century who greatly contributed in Mexican colonial painting. Born in 1580 C.E. in Valladolid, Spain, he travelled to Mexico around 1609 C.E. under the archbishop of New Spain (Mexico) and started his artistic journey there. His style is an intricate blend of the Flemish school and European Mannerism. La Santa Faz or The Holy Face is one of the finest example of this new order of painting developed in Mexico. This school of painting is characterized by the integration of Christian iconography and court portraiture in a pre-existing corpus of a theatrical yet realistic visual language visible in Europe in the preceding centuries. In La Santa Faz, the face of Christ occupies the overwhelming majority of the pictorial field, eliminating distractions and forcing direct confrontation between viewer and image. This creates an intense engagement of the viewer with the realistic sentimentality of the portraiture, unlike the overwhelming usage of Chiaroscuro and dynamic movement in typical Baroque paintings. Herrera executes the work with a deliberate compositional restraint which is indicated by the usage of a softer colour palette comprising a smoother contrast between tones. This psychological quietness differs significantly from later Baroque emotionalism. Herrera’s approach reflects early seventeenth-century Spanish mysticism, especially traditions associated with contemplative prayer and inward devotion. Most of Herreras works are influenced by this manneristic style serving as a bridge between the Spanish Renaissance and Baroque.
I found it quite the interesting decision to name a piece the 'holy face' and depict said face in such outward agony (notwithstanding the religious context and reasons why the figure is in pain in the picture). It speaks to the innate complexity of humans, suffering, and devotion. What is holy? How does one encounter it?
