These two oil-on-copper paintings are among the finest by
Nicolás Enríquez (1704–c. 1790), a distinguished yet
understudied eighteenth-century New Spanish (Mexican) painter.
They depict scenes from the life of the Virgin: her marriage to
Joseph officiated by the Jewish priest and the adoration of the
three kings who kneel before the Christ child as they offer him
prodigious gifts. These are history paintings in the grand style
(gran maniera), designed to tell a story through complex but
clear narrative elements and the forceful expressiveness of the
figures. Yet, the profusion of ornamentation, such as the
delicate floral motifs that pepper the compositions, reflects a
typically New Spanish sensibility. Enríquez was a member of the
first academy of painters established in Mexico around 1722 by
the brothers Juan and Nicolás Rodríguez Juárez (1667–1734;
1675–1728). A primary goal of this group of cultured painters
was to gain recognition of the nobility of their art and to set
themselves apart from the mechanic