I had never heard of Cristobal de Villalpando (1649-1714) before stepping through the doors of the Palacio de Iturbide in Mexico City’s Centro Historico in May, 2017.

The Palacio (see the previous post for details of this building: http://versaillescentury.com/2017/06/20/versailles-century-building-palacio-de-iturbide/#more-1068) now belongs to the Banamex Cultural Foundation, which happened to be running an exhibition dedicated to Villalpando.

Sign for the Villalpando exhibition at the Banamex Cultural Foundation, May, 2017.

Walking through the exhibition, I was thunderstruck by Villallpando’s canvases and amazed that I had never heard of him.