Juan Correa

Correa was the Afro-Mexican son of a mulatto (or dark-skinned) physician from Cádiz, Spain, and a freed black woman, Pascuala de Santoyo.

"[1] Correa was a highly productive religious painter, with two major paintings in the sacristy of the Cathedral of Mexico City, one on the subject of the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin (each from 1689), and the Entry into Jerusalem (1691).

[6] His early style was described by Ilona Katzew (LACMA curator) as having a "vibrant palette, elegant composition, and overall emphasis on decorative details [, and] subtle color gradations that provide a sense of iridescence and contribute to the overall mystical effect.

[9] According to Toussaint, Correa was "important in achieving a new quality, in the creative impulse he expresses, and which one cannot doubt embodies the eagerness of New Spain for an art of its own, breaking away from its Spanish lineage.

"[10] James Oles writes that "Correa and Villalpando created a distinctive—if at times formulaic—style that hearkened back to the strong Mannerist traditions of the mid-sixteenth century.