The Academy Artists.— For 50 years after the French Revolution the only artists in Mexico were Spanish professors sent over from Spain to the San Carlos Academy of Art and their pupils. Aguirre, one of these professors, painted the vaulting of the parochial baptistery of the Sagrario; and Rafael Ximeno did exten sive decorating. His mural work is good but his oil paintings are poor. The 'Assumption of the Virgin' in the dome of the cathedral is by his hand. It is highly imaginative and full of action and possesses the true aerial quality necessary for ceiling decorations. Juan Saens and Jose M. Vasques, two of his pupils, helped him constantly in his work. Saens took part in the decoration of the cathedral dome and Vasquez painted the 'Annunciation' and 'Jesus with the Children' in Loreto church, and 'Saint Anthony Sustained by the Angels' in the chapel of the Sagrario. Jose M. Castro, another pupil, has left some fairly good pictures, one of which is in the National Academy. He ex hibits considerable originality in his best work.
Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras, a Queretaro artist and architect of note. did considerable in terior decoration in which he shows creative power that just falls short of being great.
The Puebla School, in the beginning fol lowed Echave the elder, and in general it re fleets the influences at work in Mexico City. Its artists are inferior to those of the capital. Garcia Ferrer painted the six large figures that decorate the altar of Los Reyes in the Puebla Cathedral of which he was the architect. Diego Becerra executed, a series of pictures for San Francisco Church, Puebla, 'Saint Francis in the Desert,' 'Saint Francis Accompanied by Angels,' and 'Saint Francis in a Chariot of Fire,' all of which are strong, realistic and well executed. Jose del Castillo and. Miguel de Mendoza, an Indian prince, are two other well known Puebla artists. Joaquin Male:l painted the large mural pictures in the Puebla Cathe dral sacristy, 'The Last Supper,' The Wash ing of the Feet,' 'The Protection of the Vir gin,' and also a series of the 'Passion' in the Carmelite convent and another series on the same subject in the sacristy of Ocotlan, Tlax cala. His coloring is too vivid and his work has an unfinished appearance. Miguel Jeronimo Zendejas (1724-1816) was exceedingly popular. His technique is faulty but his work is pleas ing. His best picture is 'Christ Praying in the Garden,' in the Puebla Sagrario. Jose Luis Rodriguez Alconedb, an artist of much talent, a sculptor and a botanist, expelled to Spain for revolutionary intrigue in 1808, acquired there great facility in pastel, which he introduced into Mexico. Two of his Virgins are in the Puebla Cathedral and two fine portraits are in the Puebla Academy, one of himself and the other of a Spanish lady.
Later Academy School.—Among the paint ers of the latter half of the last century whose works arc represented in the National Academy are Jose ObrtgOn, whose large painting 'Queen Xochitl," the discoverer of pulque, the national drink of Mexico, is one of the most popular and best known in Mexico. Xochitl is repre sented as offering her discovery to King i Tecpancaltzin, who is enthroned upon his seat of honor in the midst of his royal attendants. 'Hagar and Ishmael) is perhaps a better pic ture, though on account of the subject of which it treats it is not so well or popularly known. Rodrigez Gutierrez' very striking 'Senate of Tlaxcala' represents that body deliberating on the course to be pursued toward the invader Cortes. The invention and grouping are better than the coloring. Pelegrin Claire's 'Isabel the Catholic Attending her Sick Mother' is one of the best and most attractive pictures of his epoch. The coloring• is rich and harmonious, the drawing good and the scene depicted is spirited. Juan Cordero has two pictures in the Academy, one representing 'Columbus and his *Little Son at the Gate of Ribida Convent' and the other (Columbus after the Discovery of America.' Juan Ortega's 'Meeting of Cortes and Montezuma' is full of imagination and fine coloring and • is indicative of what the author might have continued to do. Salome Pina en joyed considerable reputation among his fellow artists. Two of his pictures in the Academy, 'Abraham and Isaac' and 'Saint Charles Bor romeo' are spirited in conception and execu tion. Luis Munroy's 'Roman Charity' repre sents a Roman girl conveying food to her im prisoned father. This and the 'Prodigal Son' and the 'Last Moments of Atala' are good pictures. Manuel Ocaranza has in the Academy two fairly good pictures in the characteristic style of the middle of last century: 'Love's Wiles' and The Faded Flower.' Juan Urruchi reverts to the religious school of art of the 18th century in style and subject in 'Let the Little ones come unto Me,' Juana Inez de la Cruz' and 'San Sebastian.' Gonzalo Carrazco is represented by two pictures, 'Job' and 'San Luis Gonzaga.' The latter scene is during the plague in Rome. Juan Manchola has created two fairly good pictures in 'A Miracle of Saint Peter' and the 'Good Samaritan.' Modern Painters.— There is no school of modern painters in Mexico though there are good artists. This is because the artists have, for the most part, been educated abroad under' different influences and environment, and have become neither Mexican nor foreign in senti ment.