Leilão Bidspirit | Attributed to Hipólito Rioja (Mexico,

Attributed to Hipólito Rioja (Mexico, active from 1660 - 1690). Colonial School. Mexico. 17th century. - ”The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria” This was probably a nun’s breastplate. Oil on copper. 15 x 13 cm. The Museo Nacional de Arte (INBA) in Mexico has a panel painting by Hipólito Rioja depicting the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The influence of Flemish Artists in New Spain is clear in this marvellous copper, full of details with great pictorial quality, and magnificent composition and colour. The scene shows the moment in which, as the wheel of knives breaks as it touches Saint Catherine’s body, the Emperor Maxentius orders her decapitation. The art of nun’s breastplates was a genre of devotional art that became widespread in the 17th and 18th centuries in Spain and the New Spanish world. They were often small pictures painted or embroidered with religious scenes, which the nuns wore on their chests when they took their vows. In classic portraits of crowned nuns, as well as flowers, veils and other ornaments, we can also see the relevance of these breastplates. At times, even artists of the calibre of José de Páez, Miguel Cabrera and Luís Juárez, among others, painted some of these breastplates.