Echave Orio, Baltasar de (c. 1558–c. 1623)

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Echave Orio, Baltasar de (c. 1558–c. 1623)

Baltasar de Echave Orio (b. ca. 1558; d. ca. 1623), painter. Echave was in New Spain by around 1573 and is considered one of the most important of the second generation of mannerist painters in colonial Mexico. It is not clear how much of his training was European, since he does not seem to have been famous when he arrived in the New World. In 1582 he married Isabel de Ibía, the daughter of the painter Francisco de Zumaya, reportedly an artist in her own right. Two sons, Baltasar and Manuel, were both painters. Among the surviving works by Echave is the earliest known copy of the Virgin of Guadalupe, signed and dated 1606, as well as some of the panels from the retablo of Tlatelolco. Also attributed to Echave are the paintings of the retablo of Xochimilco. Beyond artistic pursuits, Echave wrote a treatise on the Basque language which was published in 1607.

See alsoArt: The Colonial Era.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Burke, Marcus B. Mexican Art Masterpieces. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1998.

Guadalupe Victoria, José Un pintor en su tiempo, Baltasar de Echave Orio. Mongrafías de Arte, 23. Ciudad de México: Universidad Autónoma de México-IIE, 1994.

                                        Clara Bargellini