Artist/Maker
Louis Rémy Mignot
(1831 - 1870)
Ave Maria, Scene on the Guayaquil River, Ecuador
1862-1870
Oil on canvas
Framed: 24 1/4 × 30 1/4 × 3 3/4 in. (61.6 × 76.8 × 9.5 cm)
Collection of Arthur and Eileen Newman, Bequest of Eileen Newman, 2015
2015.33.4
Following an expedition with Frederic Church to Ecuador in 1857, Mignot painted four versions of Ave Maria, of which three are extant. The Spanish colonial style church featured in these paintings is Mignot’s invention, a pastiche incorporating details of identifiable structures he may have seen on his travels. Above the main portal and beneath a cross, the prominent relief of Mary with Jesus identifies the church as a Catholic institution. Unlike his contemporaries, Mignot, viewed the tropics, its people, and their leisurely way of life as an antidote to the fast-paced capitalist society of North America. Mignot conveys these sentiments in the tranquil setting and serene lighting of the paintings, each of which portrays the same structure at different times of the day. Mignot’s renderings of Ave Maria became his signature motif, which he would incorporate into the background of other works.
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
