Diego de Borgraf

[2] Here he became one of the leading colonial painters, creating paintings of biblical scenes and figures, saints and portraits.

At the time of de Borgraf's birth in Antwerp in 1618, Flanders was a part of the dominions of the crown of Spain.

[3] It is possible, although not documented, that de Borgraf initially worked in the workshop of García Ferrer.

This would explain why his name is only first mentioned 8 years after his arrival in America when he was one of the artists working on the altar screens for the cathedral of Puebla.

However, when the latter returned with the bishop to Spain in 1649, de Borgraf became one of the leading artists in Puebla, where he was recorded from around 1649.

[3] He operated in Puebla a workshop in which Diego and Antonio de Espinoza and José Márquez were his apprentices.

He worked on a commission for the order of the Brothers Hospitallers of the convent of Our Lady of Bethlehem in Puebla.

The compositional model for these works was derived from a number of engravings after designs by the 16th-century Flemish painter Maerten de Vos.