This exhibition presents fifteen works made by artists in present-day Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia during Spanish colonial rule. One of the largest and longest-lasting European empires, the Spanish realms spanned from South Asia to South America, and lasted nearly 500 years. Spanish South American art is a dynamic, unique combination of styles and influences from visiting Italian artists and imported European prototypes translated and adapted by local hands. The works on view represent primarily Roman Catholic subjects. Paintings and sculptures adorned churches and convents across Spanish America, but most of the paintings in this exhibition originally hung in private homes where they both gave pleasure and invited contemplation and prayer. The works belong to the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, which is committed to promoting the art of the Spanish Americas through scholarship and exhibition of its extensive collection from South America and the Caribbean.
