Pereyns, Simón (c. 1535–1589)

Simón Pereyns (b. ca. 1535; d. 1589), painter. Apparently trained in his native Antwerp in the style of northern mannerism, Pereyns traveled in 1558 to Lisbon, where he worked as a painter, and then to Toledo and Madrid. In 1566 he arrived in New Spain with the viceroy Gastón de Peralta, for whom he painted frescoes of battle scenes (now lost). In 1568 Pereyns was tried before the Inquisition and sentenced to paint at his own expense a retablo of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, which may have been the Virgen del Perdón, destroyed by fire in the cathedral of Mexico City in 1967. The records of this trial provide information about the painter's life. Other documents attest to his prolific activity and to his central role in introducing Italianate Flemish mannerism to New Spain. Pereyns executed the paintings of the principal retablo of the cathedral of Mexico City as well as many others. He worked in collaboration with Francisco de Morales, Andrés de la Concha, Luis de Arciniega, and others. His only surviving works, however, are the paintings of the main altar at the Franciscan church in Huejotzingo (1856), possibly done with Concha, and a signed and dated Saint Christopher in the cathedral of Mexico City (1588).

See alsoNew Spain, Viceroyalty of .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Manuel Toussaint, Colonial Art in Mexico (1967).

José Guadalupe Victoria, "Un pintor flamenco en Nueva España: Simón Pereyns," in Anales del Instituto de investigaciones estéticas 55 (1986): 69-83.

Additional Bibliography

Lorenzo Macías, José María. "Una noticia más sobre Simón Pereyns." Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas 22:76 (Spring 2000): 259-264.

Tovar de Teresa, Guillermo. Pintura y escultura en Nueva España (1557–1640). México, D.F.: Grupo Azabache, 1992.

                                Clara Bargellini