Research by Gonzalo Eguiguren
A signed painting of Saint Barbara offers a starting point for reconsidering the work of Fray Bachiller Bartolomé de Arenas, a painter active in seventeenth-century New Spain. In his study published in 2025, Gonzalo Eguiguren proposes connecting two portraits of Archbishop and Viceroy Payo Enríquez de Rivera with the artist.
The painting of Saint Barbara, signed ARENAS F., provides the principal point of comparison. The study examines its handling of faces and hands, its decorative language and its relationship with textiles and Mexican lacquerware. These observations underpin Eguiguren’s proposed expansion of the painter’s known work.
Fray Bachiller Bartolomé de Arenas, Saint Barbara. New Spain, seventeenth century. Signed ARENAS F. Gonzalo Eguiguren Gallery.
Two portraits reconsidered
Payo Enríquez de Rivera, Viceroy of New Spain, 1674. Palacio del Ayuntamiento, Mexico City. Photograph: Jojagal / Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
Payo Enríquez de Rivera, Archbishop of Mexico, 1673. Museo Nacional de Historia, Chapultepec. Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Attributions to Bartolomé de Arenas proposed by Gonzalo Eguiguren.
The first is the portrait of Payo Enríquez de Rivera in Mexico City’s Palacio del Ayuntamiento, bearing the date 1674 and an inscription reading ARENAS at the lower right. Eguiguren identifies this inscription as evidence for the proposed attribution, while noting that it appears to have been reinforced at a later date. Its material history remains an important question for further technical examination.
The second is the portrait associated with the date 1673 in the Museo Nacional de Historia, Chapultepec. The study proposes an attribution to Arenas through comparison with the signed painting and the Ayuntamiento portrait, drawing attention to the treatment of the face, hands and episcopal dress.
The contribution of the study
These two proposed attributions are credited to Gonzalo Eguiguren. They are presented as conclusions of his research, with their acceptance by the institutions and the wider scholarly community remaining a separate question.
A check of the Museo Nacional de Historia’s online collection record on 3 October 2026 found no artist named for its portrait. The Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes and the University of the Andes’ ARCA catalogue identify the corresponding portrait as anonymous. Those references also show that the portrait was already known and reproduced in earlier scholarship. The contribution discussed here concerns its proposed authorship.
The full study sets out the visual comparisons and the broader context of the painting. It invites further examination of Arenas’s work and of portraiture in viceregal Mexico.
Selected references
- Gonzalo Eguiguren, Saint Barbara – Fray Bachiller Bartolomé de Arenas, gallery research study, 2025. Full study available to download on this page.
- Museo Nacional de Historia: Virrey Payo Enríquez de Rivera, online collection record.
- Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes: Fray Payo de Rivera, Arzobispo de México. Reproduced from Margo Glantz, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Saberes y placeres, 1996.
- ARCA, University of the Andes, record 13719. Image source: Inmaculada Rodríguez Moya, La mirada del virrey. Iconografía del poder en la Nueva España, 2003.