Self-Portrait (Autorretrato)

In this work, one of the few self-portraits that survive from New Spain, Juan Rodríguez Juárez is indisputably at the top of his game. Created when he was working on his masterpieces for Mexico City’s cathedral, the painting depicts the artist looking intently at the viewer (or perhaps at a mirror), with a canvas or easel behind him. The quick, impressionistic brushstrokes rendering his hand and paintbrush seem illuminated from within, making this a work of exceptional modernity.


After the painter’s death, the portrait was preserved by Rodríguez Juárez’s followers and donated to the newly founded Royal Academy of San Carlos in about 1786.



En esta obra, uno de los escasos autorretratos novohispanos que se conservan, Juan Rodríguez Juárez aparece indiscutiblemente en su mejor momento. Pintado mientras trabajaba en sus obras maestras para la catedral metropolitana, aparece dirigiendo una mirada desafiante al espectador (o quizá a un espejo), con un lienzo o caballete a sus espaldas. Las pinceladas rápidas y abocetadas que delinean la mano y el pincel parecen iluminadas desde su interior, lo que confiere al cuadro un sentido de excepcional modernidad.

A la muerte del pintor, el retrato quedó en manos de sus seguidores, que hacia 1786 lo llegaron a la Real Academia de San Carlos como parte de su memoria colectiva.