Quito School
Description
The Quito School (Escuela Quiteña) is a Latin American colonial artistic tradition that constitutes essentially the whole of the professional artistic output developed in the territory of the Royal Audience of Quito – from Pasto and Popayán in the north to Piura and Cajamarca in the south – during the Spanish colonial period (1542–1824). It is especially associated with the 17th and 18th centuries and was almost exclusively focused on the religious art of the Catholic Church in the country. Characterized by a mastery of the realistic and by the degree to which indigenous beliefs and artistic traditions are evident, these productions were among of the most important activities in the economy of the Royal Audience of Quito. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Bernardo de Legarda
Preeminent mestizo sculptor and silversmith who reached the summit of the Quito School, renowned for dynamic, swirling wooden figures and intricate encarnación flesh polychromy.
Manuel Chil (Caspicara)
Indigenous master sculptor whose nickname referred to his pockmarked face; achieved extraordinary psychological depth, anatomical grace, and Rococo elegance in religious wood carvings.
Manuel Samaniego
Leading late-colonial Quitense painter and author of an influential artist treatise who humanized sacred biblical scenes by placing holy figures inside intimate, everyday domestic workshops.
Miguel de Santiago
Foundational 17th-century painter of the Quito School whose grand religious series for Augustinian and Franciscan monasteries combined European Baroque chiaroscuro with Andean spiritual mysticism.
Nicolás Javier de Goríbar
Prominent disciple of Miguel de Santiago celebrated for monumental series of Old Testament prophets and kings decorating the pillars of Quito's Jesuit and Dominican churches.
Famous Artworks
Fun Facts
Quito School artisans mastered the technique of 'encarnación' (flesh-simulation), polishing carved wooden figures with sheep's bladder and applying layers of lead white, vermilion, and saliva before adding glass eyes, human hair eyelashes, and lead fingernails to make the statues astonishingly lifelike.
↗ Source: britannica.com
So renowned was the quality and beauty of Bernardo de Legarda's 'Virgen de Quito' that King Charles III of Spain famously remarked that while Spain had conquered the New World, Ecuador had conquered Spain with its unrivaled religious art.
↗ Source: britannica.com