The work was offered as Lot 48 in a sale by La Suite Subastas in November 2023, where it was described as an oil on canvas by Francisco Martinez dating to about 1750. It achieved the artist's current auction record, selling for approximately US$65,433. Following the auction, the painting passed into a private collection. No museum acquisition or public exhibition has been announced.
Active through the ultra baroque period, Francisco Martinez in addition to being a painter, was also an established gilder, retable decorator and a designer of ephemeral festival architecture. The ultra baroque is also referred to as the Churrigueresque period as it is named after the Churriguera family; a prominent Spanish family of baroque architects and sculptors who constructed lavish ornamental structures and buildings defined by hyper-detailed sculptural decorations on their facades and altarpieces. Scholars and critics coined the term 'Churrigueresque' to denote this extremely elaborate, Spanish baroque architectural style that flourished from the late 17th century to the mid 18th century. Mexico being a Spanish colony was subjected to influences arriving from Europe, and the Churrigueresque school of architecture was no exception. This style deeply impacted various Mexican visual traditions and not just the architecture, in terms of painting, the religious artworks commissioned by ecclesiastical institutions were on the forefront of this change. It was necessary for the canvas paintings that were housed in the ornate altarpieces (retablos) to support the surrounding visual language, this need compelled the artists to match the surroundings with dramatic, theatrical compositions. The major source of livelihood for contemporary baroque painters was the funding provided by liturgical institutes. Thus, almost all of the practitioners at the time incorporated intense emotional expressions, dynamic movement and rich colour palettes that mirrored the hyper-ornamentality of the carved stone around them. Though a compelling factor, the evolution of the baroque aesthetics had made the integration of these elements a natural development. As an architect, Francisco Martinez employed the Churrigueresque aesthetics in his paintings as well, with the painting above, titled "The Good Shepherd as the Mystical Lamb" being an exemplary specimen. The artwork is an intense theological allegory as Francisco instead of depicting Christ as the traditional shepherd carrying a sheep, chooses to transform Christ into the mystical lamb. The significance of Christ's sacrifice is emphasized by the presence of angels and the holy spirit in the form of a dove above his head. Christ as the lamb occupies the centre of the composition and the wound in his chest is a reminder of his crucifixion and the Eucharistic sacrifice. The background is a pastoral landscape with sheep grazing the land. Much like other iconographical works, the painter employs a pyramidal framework in the composition. The warm golden colour of the illuminating light contrasts the darker surrounding landscape. The Churrigueresque aesthetic here is directly presented not only through the formalistic elements of the work but also indicated indirectly through the abundant subject matter which is presented in an ornamental fashion. This aesthetical treatment is detectable in the works of other contemporaries as well, such as Miguel Cabrera and Jose de Ibarra. The painting is an excellent example of the evolving approach of the 18th century Mexican artists as they expanded established European themes with greater symbolic complexity, synthesizing multiple strands of Christian iconography into a single, coherent devotional image.
The first thing that stood out to me were the lambs on either side of Christ that at first resembled fingers. In their placement, it could be that they represent the hands of God holding His sacrificial son within his palms. The use of lambs and lamb iconography is a very unique change from the classic Italian and Russian Baroque that depicted the religious scenes with great realism while still remaining dramatic and theatrical.
