Thursday, April 13, 2017

Hermenegildo Bustos

Happy Birthday Hermengildo Bustos!

April 13, 1832 was this painter of Mestizo heritage's birthday. Hermenegildo Bustos was born into a Catholic family in the tiny village of Purisima del Rincon. His apprenticeship with portrait painter Juan Nepomuceno Herrera for six months was his only art training. He is primarily known for portraiture, painting sets for each notable family in the vicinity, but also worked on still life as well as religious works.

His work was not really recognized until after the Mexican Revolution and he often inscribed "Hermenegildo Bustos amateur painter" on the backs of his paintings. The self portrait shown below features a coat that Bustos himself designed and made for the occasion. It reads: Hermenegildo Bustos, indio de este pueblo de Purísima del Rincón, nací el 13 de abril de 1832. (Hermenegildo Busto, an Indian from this town Purisima del Rincon, I was born April, 13, 1832.)





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