Jose de Alzibar (1730 - 1806)

Sometimes also spelled Alcibar, this great artist was born in Texcoco, near Mexico City. He is known to have made numerous altars as well as many paintings for temples throughout Mexico, including one of the largest retablos for the Our Lady of Guadalupe which can still be seen at the Santuario de Guadalupe in Santa Fe, NM. He became part of the faculty of the famous Academia de San Carlos, an interesting fact since most of the professors of this institution were completely against the styles of painting of the Colonial school, which Alzibar was very much a part of. Nevertheless, in the last decade of the 18th century, he was considered to be the best and most famous painter in Mexico. He is known to have also worked in sculpture and the Dolorosa Virgin at the Sagrario Metropolitano in Mexico City has been attributed to him.