¹ Màle, Emil, The Gothic Image (New York: Harpers, 1958), p. vii.Google Scholar

² Engelhardt, Zephyrin, Missions and Missionaries of California, 2 (Santa Barbara, 1930), 114–115.Google Scholar In a letter to Antonio Maria de Bucareli [Viceroy] written by Serra in Mexico City on May 21, 1773, he mentions again such an incident: “As for the women, when the Fathers showed them a beautiful painting [efigie] of the Most Blessed Mary, artistically executed, which they had brought with them, and had placed in the Church, they were so taken with it that they could not tear themselves away from it. They went to their homes and came back loaded down with seeds and provisions, which they offered to the holy image, leaving their offerings in front of the altar. It is easy enough to say their actions were prompted by the foolish idea that the Most Holy Virgin was to eat them.” Tibesar, Antonine, Writings of Junípero Serra, 1, 359.Google Scholar This letter was written to the viceroy while Serra was in Mexico where he had gone to lay before the viceroy the problems of the missions in California. See also Engelhardt, Z., Mission San Diego (San Francisco, 1920), p. 29.Google Scholar

³ San Fernando College or Convent was the headquarters at that time for the Spanish missionary padres and the center of the Franciscan apostolic work in that area. It was founded in 1743 as an apostolic missionary college. From San Fernando came the first California missionaries.

⁴ Baer, Kurt, Painting and Sculpture at Mission Santa Barbara (Washington, 1955), p. 217, note 13.Google Scholar

⁵ A vara is approximately 33 inches.

⁶ The Bulletin (Second Edition of the First Bulletin) of the Southwest Society of Archaeological Institute of America (now the Southwest Museum) contains a listing and description of each of the paintings, written by Charles F. Lummis. It is a reprint of his article “Old Art in California,” that appeared in the September 1904 issue of Out West Magazine. Measurements and condition of the paintings at that time are given, but in general the attributions and the dating of the paintings is incorrect. No work of any particular significance is in this collection although it contains some subjects not usually found in the missions. It is not clear just how Mr. Lummis was able to date some of the works so precisely. The illustrations of twenty-five of the paintings reveal the fact that even fifty years ago they were in poor condition, although Mr. Lummis states in the article that they “have been cleaned and in some cases, remounted.”

⁷ The list is taken from Mâle, op. cit., p. 179. This is the list of subjects found in the medieval church miniatures, sculpture, and stained glass. Not all these subjects are to be found in mission art; in fact, there are few nativities, only one Last Supper (and that a crude one); the most common are the scenes from the Passion.

⁸ Mâle, op. cit., p. 140.

⁹ Ibid., p. 154.

¹⁰ The theme of the Good Shepherd is taken from the Gospel according to John X: 11–16, and also in the Epistle I Peter, ii: 25, for the second Sunday after Easter.

¹¹ For example see: Duhaut-Cilly, quoted in Engelhardt, op. cit., pp. 113, 150–154; Robinson, Alfred, Life in California (San Francisco, 1891), pp. 44, 56, 276–278;Google ScholarPubMed Brewer, William H., Up and Down California (New Haven, 1930), pp. 56–57,Google Scholar 76–77; O’Keefe, J.J., Buildings and Churches of the Mission (Santa Barbara, 1886);Google Scholar Storke, Ayda Addis, A Memorial and Biographical History of Santa Barbara (Chicago, 1891), p. 76;Google Scholar Bodkin, John, Santa Barbara Mission (Los Angeles, 1910);Google Scholar Capt. Beechey, F.W., R.N., Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, 2 (London, 1831), 16;Google Scholar Baer, Kurt, The Treasures of Mission Santa Ines (Fresno, 1956), pp. 15,Google Scholar 97; Carter, C.F., The Missions of Nueva California, pp. 148–151;Google Scholar Powell, H.M.T., The Santa Fe Trail to California, p. 214.Google Scholar

¹² Tibesar, Antonine, The Writings of Junípero Serra, 1, xxv.Google Scholar

¹³ Tibesar, op. cit., I, 169.

¹⁴ Ibid., I, 185.

¹⁵ Ibid., I, 223.

¹⁶ The “Lady of Mt. Carmel” mentioned by Serra is probably the one now hanging on the north wall near the rear of the church at San Luis Obispo. It is at present a very dark canvas. A large cartouche in the lower right of the canvas bears this inscription:

In the lower left, below a group of souls, is the following inscription: Adevoc^a de Dⁿ Ignacio Espinosa de los Monteros. If this is the painting mentioned by Serra in his letter, then there is confusion in the dates; it is unlikely that another “Carmel” would be purchased for San Luis. The painting is described in the section devoted to representations of the Virgin.

¹⁷ Ibid. I, 207.

¹⁸ Ibid., I, 221. Serra wanted the habit to be gray in color, for that was the color the Fernandino Franciscans wore (see also note 26 below). There is no painting of San Luis Obispo in any of the missions; the only representation is the statue on the reredos of that mission. The only painting of St. Clare (Clara) is at the Mission Santa Barbara. There are numerous paintings of St. Francis elsewhere, but none in Mission Dolores. It appears that Serra’s request went unheeded.

¹⁹ Since the original Franciscan rule forbade the commercial use of money to the friars, and because money became almost the sole medium of exchange, papal authorization was given for the employment of a layman, called a syndic, who undertook the necessary transactions for the Friars.

²⁰ Tibesar, op. cit., II, 227. San Diego still has “engravings” and not paintings for the Stations on its walls.

²¹ Ibid., 229. The painting has disappeared.

²² Ibid., 241–243. The text of Serra’s letter reads: “Una lámina de bronze de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, con marco de evano y cantoneras y golpe de plata.”

²³ Ibid., 279.

²⁴ Loc. cit. This painting and the other numerous supplies of every conceivable type (for Serra overlooked little, if anything) may have been planned for the mission in honor of St. Francis, for he states “near the port of our Father, San Francisco.” It was eventually to be known as the Mission Dolores.

²⁵ Tibesar, op. cit., 311.

²⁶ Tibesar, op. cit., 319. The matter of the blue habit is interesting. Prior to about 1900 there was no specified color for the Franciscan habit, and blue was very common. However, the Franciscans from San Fernando wore gray, hence Serra makes San Juan Capistrano a Fernandino. There are a number of Franciscan saints pictured in the missions and, interestingly enough, most of them are pictured in gray. For a complete history of the Franciscan habit and the numerous variations, see Huber, Raphael, Documented History of the Franciscan Order (Milwaukee, 1944), pp. 669–688.Google Scholar

²⁷ The value of the peso was approximately $1.70. See Cutter, Donald C., Malaspina in California (San Francisco, 1960), p. 22 n.Google Scholar

²⁸ Tibesar, op. cit., II, 431–433. The eighteen peso San Luis has not been discovered anywhere.

²⁹ To quote the sources would cause unnecessary embarrassment: the student widely read in mission hand-books, guides, and even histories, is familiar with them, and since they contribute nothing to this study, had best remain happily anonymous.

³⁰ The letters (and other writings) by Serra are to be found in Tibesar, op. cit., the most recent translations, with Spanish and English on facing pages. These volumes also contain some of the letters by Palóu. The most important letter concerning painting was written

To Very Reverend Father Guardian, Fray Juan Sancho: Since God willed that the death of my beloved father [Junípero Serra] should be in your Reverence’s triennium, if you should wish to order it painted I should be very much pleased, and in case some one is inspired and there is a benefactor, we will accept it for Masses or for the stipends which we will all take kindly. The most edifying scene would be to have him wearing his stole and kneeling before the altar of Our Lady, with the Child in her arms, and a priest vested with a cope before the altar, with a small host for giving him the Viaticum, and coming from the lips of the dead Father in verse Tantum Ergo, with many Indians and Leather-jackets with their candles in their hands. In case you think well of it I will write by the land post, suggesting the title that might be put beneath it.

This note, or request, is approximately in the middle of a very long report. It is dated September 13, 1784, at Carmel or Mission of San Carlos de Monte Rey [sic]. Then, on February 6, 1785, Fray Juan Sancho wrote to Palóu that “The picture of the deceased Fray Junípero Serra is being painted at the expense of his Reverence, Bishop Verger” (Bolton, H. E., ed., Historical Memoirs of New California by Fray Francisco Palóu, IV, 365). The painting was completed by Mariano Guerrero in 1785, and now hangs in the room of the missionaries in the Castillo de Chapultepec, Mexico City.

³¹ See Pal Kelemen, Baroque and Rococo in Latin America, passim, and Plates 138, 139, 190, 191, and 192 for derivations from European engravings after Flemish and Italian paintings. See also Note 35, below.

³² There is a fairly good version of this subject in fair condition in the museum rooms at Mission San Luis Rey, and fortunately bears the signature: Luis S. Miena (or Mena) fecit. This version differs from the original in more ways than one; generally it retains the principal figures, eliminating or changing the lesser components, and adding four corner figures: St. Joseph in the upper left, St. Francis in the upper right, and Indians in both lower corners. The Indians, incidentally, look South American.

It is curious that this subject, which was so popular in New Spain, had almost no representation in Italy where the devotion originated.

³³ There are many versions of this painting; these differ only in very minor details when painted as authentic by leading artists such as Correa, Alzibar, Cabrera, etc. In fact, these are generally accurate copies. The variations occur when the four scenes of the apparition are represented in the four corners of the painting. This subject has so permeated the arts that it appears in every conceivable form, from excellent paintings to tile work and even into the debased form of a wine bottle in the shape of the Guadalupe, so that it has become what amounts to an artistic and commercial scandal.

³⁴ On February 26, 1777, Serra wrote to Father Francisco Pangua from Monterery, commenting on the status of the missions, and mentions the paintings:

San Francisco and Santa Clara Missions already have their paintings. The picture St. Francis receiving the Stigmata is still missing at the fort chapel (the Capilla Real in Monterey). This is to be paid for by the King. But, if you could arrange that a religious should take care of that painting, I would like them to paint St. Francis as an apostle, and inspiring devotion. Father Castro might get together with the painter Paez, and arrange for both paintings.

As to the painting of San Juan Capistrano … above all things, its color scheme should not be a blue habit, but of an ash gray.

This passage clearly shows that members of the religious community were capable painters, that the King made gifts of paintings, and that there was apparently a contractual agreement with painters of reputation.

³⁵ The engraving and the painting are reproduced in this author’s The Treasures of Mission Santa Inés, Figures 23 and 109. The padres' missal was a common source for provincial work during the eighteenth century. E. Boyd’s report, “A Roman Missal from Santa Cruz Church, “notes that:” A small copperplate of St. Jerome in the desert, on page 584, is a recognizable prototype for many provincial and folk artist images of this popular saint throughout Spanish America.” (El Palacio, July-August, 1957, p. 235); and “The Missal for Spanish countries has a fine title page date 1725 and a copperplate of Santiago, Patron of Spain … the versions of this print served as models for folk images from Peru to New Mexico until color lithos … replaced them in mid-XIX Century.”

³⁶ See p. 142 of Painting and Sculpture in Mission Santa Barbara by this author, for a detail of this painting.

³⁷ The most thorough study of this subject is to be found in Carrillo, Abelardo y Gariel, , Tecnica de la pintura de Nueva España (Mexico: Imprenta Universitaria, 1946).Google Scholar Every facet of painting, from the chemistry of pigments, the canvas, to the wood used for stretchers, is covered.

³⁸ During the recent (1955) restoration of the old San Miguel Church in Santa Fé, New Mexico, a number of such works were discovered under later overpainting. The restoration of the reredos and its component paintings was made principally by E. Boyd (Curator, Department of Spanish Colonial Art at the Museum of New Mexico in Fanta Fé), and by Dupont Cornelius of the Taylor Museum at Colorado Springs, Colorado. The problems and findings are described in an article appearing in El Palacio, published by the Archaeological Society of New Mexico, through the Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fé.