Bernardo Bitti

His mobile lifestyle was a testament to his popularity with the Jesuits, but it led to Bitti's being unable to set up a workshop or have apprentices.

Nevertheless, his influence in the region was immense,[1] and resulted in Mannerism persisting in South America even when it had fallen out of favor in Europe.

[2] For its Indian chapel, he painted a setting of the Last Judgment, now lost,[11] the sight of which persuaded many natives to convert, according to Inca Garcilaso de la Vega writing in 1612.

[12] Later in his career,[2] Bitti traveled through Spanish America including Potosí,[5] Arequipa, Juli [es], Acora, La Paz, Sucre, and Chucuito.

Bitti collaborated with other artists,[3] including his fellow Jesuit Pedro de Vargas, in art projects all over the Peru.

[6] His work is representative of Mannerism,[1] characterized by elongated figures with slender limbs and delicate fingers in posing gracefully in condensed compositions.

[1] Bitti's Mannerism, however, "lacked the confusion, erudition, and sometimes erotic sway" that was typical of the style in his native Italy.

[14] Bitti painted the persons of the Trinity as clearly distinct: God the Father and Son are of different ages, and the Holy Spirit takes the form of a dove.

This was to avoid potential confusion that could arise in the eyes of natives when looking at paintings that portray the Trinity as a three-faced man or three near-identical men.

[15] The Virgin of the Candelaria, also at St. Peter's, features Mary holding infant Jesus while angels provide light with candles.

The painting relies on visual exaggeration reminiscent of the work of Italian Mannerists like Bronzino and Parmigianino, but without any eroticism.

[1] Agony in the Garden, painted c. 1600 and now in the Lima Art Museum, has an elongated and graceful Christ figure and an angel, both in pastel draperies that seem to ignore both gravity and the shape of their bodies.

[3] Even though many other Italian painters followed in his footsteps to South America – including Matteo Pérez and Angelino Medoro immediately in his year of arrival – few became as influential as Bitti,[3][6] whose influence on painting in Viceroyal Peru was decisive.

Although Bitti never stayed in one place long enough to establish a workshop or train apprentices,[1] his work influenced many painters of the Andes,[2] especially in Cusco and the Audiencia of Charcas in Bolivia.

[1] Lázaro Pardo de Lagos, Diego Cusi Guamán,[2] and Pedro Bedón also exhibit influences.