CA - Signed, Española: Baroque Cabrera casta masterwork is hiding somewhere in L.A.

[wfgodot]

Los Angeles Times:

A masterpiece of Baroque painting, missing for
more than a century, is hiding somewhere in L.A.

A missing masterpiece of 18th-century painting, lost for more than 100 years, has apparently been hanging in a Los Angeles home since the mid-1950s.

Nicknamed “Española” — Spanish girl — after the primped and powdered child that is the painting’s focus, the lost work is from a brilliant set of 16 paintings by Miguel Cabrera (circa 1715-1768), the greatest painter of his age in Mexico. The paintings are believed to have left the country two years before the artist’s death, but the whereabouts of Española has long been unknown.

Now it seems the singular gem has been hiding in plain sight — although the exact location of the domestic hideaway remains a nagging mystery.
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much more at the link

 

[Tony1902]

Interesting link, however the term 'Criollo' is more accurate than Creole, ethnohistorically speaking. Is that even a word?

 

[wfgodot]

Interesting link, however the term 'Criollo' is more accurate than Creole, ethnohistorically speaking. Is that even a word?

Criollo and creole are cognates; Creoles, as the article indicates, are Spaniards born in the Americas.

 

[Tony1902]

As an ethno-historian of little to no to unpublished-repute, I beg to differ. Although the contested origins of Crilollo-Creole can be vague, in the archives of Sevilla Criollo was used extensively by the Spanish, and Creole by the French, but that's a long debate over a fine claret, which I don't have now.

 

[Laughing]

Waaaay cool, thanks, Godot/ Go Dot/ WTF Guh Dough/etc

 

[wfgodot]

As an ethno-historian of little to no to unpublished-repute, I beg to differ. Although the contested origins of Crilollo-Creole can be vague, in the archives of Sevilla Criollo was used extensively by the Spanish, and Creole by the French, but that's a long debate over a fine claret, which I don't have now.

I bow to your superior (understatement) knowledge. I was basing mine on some undergrad linguistics classes half-remembered from years and years ago. It took me five minutes just to remember the term "cognate," lol. Outta my league!

 

[Maroon10]

Kinda a jerk move to tease a museum for personal giggles like this person did

 

[wfgodot]

Kinda a jerk move to tease a museum for personal giggles like this person did

We'll see what comes out of it all. I think it's a pretty cool story right now, and am sure someday -- perhaps quite soon -- that Española will return to the fold.

Even if not, having given this Missing Paintings tale a narrative is something which approaches being art itself. As far as I know this is a unique tale in el mundo de las pinturas desaparecidas.

 

[Laughing]

Kinda a jerk move to tease a museum for personal giggles like this person did

This is a very interesting exercise in art education! We're reading about Spanish history, historic race relations, and art.

The story ran on some website my husband reads -- generally focused on motorcycles or diesel engines.

Education is good, and I think that the owner of this painting and the museum are a class act!