Woman Knitting with Cat
by Peter Ogden
Title
Woman Knitting with Cat
Artist
Peter Ogden
Medium
Painting - Oil On Canvas
Description
Reproduction of Woman Knitting with Cat, 1860, Oil on Canvas by Juan Cordero [Mexican 1822-1884] depicting an elegant historic Mexican woman hand knitting with her affectionate Mexican cat perched on her shoulder.
Juan Cordero was baptized on June 11, 1822, in Sagrario Teziutlán, Puebla, Mexico. He is buried at Panteón del Tepeyac in the Federal District of México City, Mexico. His father was Tomás Antonio Cordero (1789-1859) and his mother was María Dolores Hoyos Mier. Juan Cordero had one sister and three brothers, he was the middle child, listed in birth order: María de la Asunción Cordero Hoyos, Manuel Cordero Hoyos, Juan Cordero de Hoyos, José María Cordero Hoyos, Francisco Cordero Hoyos. In 1839 Cordero married María del Los Ángeles osio Arias Caballero. Together they had four daughters and two sons, listed in birth order: María Dolores Cordero, Antonio Cordero, María del Carmen Cordero, Tomás Cordero, María Teresa Ramona Luisa de la Santísma Trinidad Cordero.
Cordero’s painting Columbus in the Court of the Catholic Monarchs was exhibited in the Academia de San Carlos in 1851. The painting depicts an imagined historical event when Columbus returned from exploring the Americas and met with the King and Queen of Spain, Fernando, and Isabella. It shows Columbus presenting Native Americans and natural specimens from the Americas to the monarchs. The painting brings together the old world and the new world in order to reinforce the historical and cultural connection between Mexico and Europe. Cordero first painted this as an appeal to President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna so that he could be the director of the Academia de San Carlos. Even though Cordero did not ultimately get the role of academy director, the painting initiated a change in the art world, as more Mexican artists began to paint secular and national events that would later be seen as a form of a historical document. The academy exhibition itself sparked one of the first public debates over secular history paintings, due in part to the propaganda of the postcolonial government. The painting was significant because of the usage of the style in historical paintings, as such this allowed Cordero to use it as a vehicle that perpetuates the postcolonial legislation of racism and classism in Mexico during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Cordero's painting would later be seen as an aid to the construction of Mexico's national identity. While many historical paintings were praised for the innovation that led to civil discourse, it also allowed the bourgeoise elites and the monarchs to promote a social hierarchy within Mexico with the express goal of wanting to assimilate the indigenous population into the political structure.
The Fine Art America logo does not appear on the final product.
Uploaded
July 19th, 2018
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