| Gaspar Miguel de Berrío (1706–after 1762) was one of the foremost personalities of the Potosí School of painting that developed during the early to mid-eighteenth century in the celebrated viceregal mining city of Potosí in the Viceroyalty of Peru. The Potosí School, like the school of painting that developed in the Inca capital of Cuzco, became known for its particular Andean Mestizo pictorial expression, or mix of Spanish and Indian elements, and for its thematic and conceptual originality in the interpretation of Christian devotional images. Berrio painted for the religious orders and prominent members of Potosí society and created a body of work indicative of an artist of high esteem. He was, like many Potosí painters of the period, a follower of the well-known Baroque master of Bolivia, Melchor Pérez Holguín (Cochabamba, circa 1660–1742), whose tenebrist style and ascetic representation of religious imagery exerted a strong influence upon many artists of the region. Berrío, however, was one of the few painters who created a unique style, different from that of this master. What distinguishes his painting is his elegant style of imagery full of Genre detail and richness of surface luminescence that recalls Early Netherlandish painting which he blends with the popular esthetic of the local Andean schools of the eighteenth century. His body of work, rendered with sumptuous color tones and a graceful linearity, is representative of the last flowering period of the arts in viceregal Latin America.; As of vet there has been no systematic study of the iconography of Berrío's paintings which is essential in understanding the full importance of his work in the Potosí School of painting and advancing scholarship in this field. The present study aims to fill this void by providing a chronological survey of the paintings of Berrío and his circle and analysis of his works in the context of the eighteenth century. This study aims to provide a cross-cultural view of Bolivian Colonial society during the later viceregal era and its artistic output by focusing on the most brilliant painter of this period. |
