Anonymous Venezuelan Painter from the School of Tocuyo, La Dolorosa, 18th century, oil on canvas mounted on wood panel, 13 9/16 x 11 in., Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, 2016. Photo Courtesy of Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin recently announced that it will receive 83 artworks from The Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC). Based in New York City and Caracas, Venezuela, the CPPC’s goal is to support the study of art from Latin America through grants, exhibitions, programs, and scholarly research. The 83 works come to the Blanton to supplement its collection of Spanish colonial art, some of which is on view in the museum’s newly remodeled second-story galleries. Additionally, the Blanton recently named Dr. Rosario I. Granados its first-ever curator of Spanish Colonial art.
Joseph P. Whiting (Maryland, ca. 1800 – Panama, 1849, active in Caracas since 1824), Butaca, ca. 1830, mahagony, cedar, and stenciled gilding, 38 1/2 x 27 x 28 1/2 in., Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, 2016. Photo Courtesy of Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
Patricia Phelps de Cisneros of the CPPC spoke about the donation:
The Blanton has long been highly regarded as an authority for scholarship in the field of art from Latin America, and we wish to support the museum’s interest in the colonial period, and the rich potential for interdisciplinary study across the UT campus.
The CPPC donated 119 pieces in total to five museums across the Americas. Other institutions recieving donations include the Denver Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museo de Arte de Lima, and the Hispanic Society of America, New York.
Of the works donated to the Blanton, 36 are furniture pieces, and 46 are paintings and small-scale triptychs.
Anonymous Venezuelan Painter from the School of Caracas, San Francisco de Asis, 18th century, oil on canvas, 75 x 46.5 in., Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, 2016. Photo Courtesy of Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
