José de Ibarra

José de Ibarra is, along with Juan Rodríguez Juárez (1675-1728), one of the most prominent figures in painting from the first half of the 18th century in New Spain, modern day's Mexico.

A follower of the artistic renewal promoted by the brothers Juan and Nicolás Rodríguez Juárez, in whose workshop he collaborated, Ibarra cultivated in his work the language of pictorial modernism with strong Italian and French influences.

In recent years, however, José de Ibarra's painting has begun to be revalued thanks to the contributions of researchers such as Rogelio Ruiz Gomar, Jaime Cuadriello, Ilona Katzew, Paula Mues and others.

Qualities of his work that stand out include his loose and light brushwork, his characterized faces, a refined sense of composition and symmetry, his careful study of anatomy, and a spectacular search for tonal contrasts and a gradual reduction of his palette, all accentuated by the attitudes of the characters in his paintings.

Finally, he completed a series of paintings for the Cathedral of Puebla, which include the four canvases of the "Adorations" on the outer walls of the choir and those of the Way of the Cross on the pilasters of the temple, the latter attributed for a long time to Miguel Cabrera.