The earliest documented activity of Juan Correa (ca. 1650-1740) in Mexico City began in 1674. At the end of his career he settled in Antigua (Guatemala), where the last recorded date of his oeuvre is 1739. Director of a flourishing atelier that produced a prolific number of paintings, Correa remains one of the most important artists of viceregal New Spain. Between 1684 and 1692 he decorated the Sacristy of the Cathedral of Mexico with an equally famous contemporary, Cristóbal Villalpando (1652-1714). Mutual stylistic influences resulted from this collaboration of Baroque Titans. Correa excelled in themes of angelology (Metropolitan Cathedral, Cathedral of Mexico, Convent of St. Francis at San Miguel de Allende, Chapel of Zapateros at Tlalpujahua). The Guardian Angel shares features in common with Correa's extant paintings: the exuberant posture of the heavenly protector; the fluidity of drapery; the display of bold colors and dramatic cloud formations. Correa must have known paintings by Martin de Vos at the Cathedral of Mexico and at Cuautitlán, as well as engravings after his work. The Jesuit and Franciscan Orders especially promoted the Counter-Reformation cult of the "Guardian Angels", stressing their role as divine intermediaries between the celestial macrocosm and earthly microscosm.

Dr. Barbara von Barghahn
Washington, D.C., 1992