Gómez, José Miguel (c. 1720–1805)
Gómez, José Miguel (c. 1720–1805)
José Miguel Gómez (b. c. 1720; d. 1805), best-known colonial painter of Honduras. Born in Tegucigalpa, Gómez painted mostly religious themes. He began his studies in Comayagua but later studied in Guatemala City. He returned to Comayagua, where his painting of San José de Calasanz for the Araque family brought him to the attention of Bishop Rodríguez de Rivera, who commissioned a series of works from him for the cathedral of Comayagua. Gómez's paintings were characterized by their natural realism. He later painted many religious canvases for churches in and around Tegucigalpa. His painting of Father José Simón Zelaya is especially notable, as was his final painting, in 1805, of La Divina Pastora, depicting the Virgin with Child and a lamb, a vivid painting that reflected the influence of his Spanish and Guatemalan teachers.
See alsoArt: The Nineteenth Century; Honduras.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Additional Bibliography
López, R., J. Evaristo, and Longino Becerra. Honduras, visión panorámica de su pintura. Tegucigalpa, Honduras: Baktun Editorial, 1994.
Oyuela, Irma Leticia de. La batalla pictórica: Síntesis de la historia de la pintura hondureña. Tegucigalpa, Honduras: Banco Atlántida, 1995.
Ralph Lee Woodward Jr.