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Antonio de Torres (Mexico, 1667 – 1731) “Saint Anthony of Padua Preaching to the Poor under the Gaze of Mary and Her Son” Oil on canvas. Signed. 166 x 122 cm. With this magnificent work, a luminous window opens onto the world of the most significant Baroque painter of New Spain, Antonio de Torres Lorenzana. The artist illuminates us with a canvas depicting a very popular saint who, over time, has inspired universal devotion: his namesake, Saint Anthony of Padua. Invoked in humble homes to find lost objects, present in thousands of flower adorned images in churches, altars, and at city and countryside corners alike, his figure is tenderly bound to the daily life of the faithful. Yet beyond this popular devotion, Saint Anthony was a true witness to evangelical charity. His concern for the poor was neither romantic nor abstract; it was concrete, committed, and profoundly Christian. Antonio de Torres understood this deeply in this exquisite and tender painting, realistic and rendered in gentle tonalities, one of many he created for the Franciscan family depicting the life of its founder and its countless saints.   Born in Lisbon in 1195 under the name Fernando, into a noble family, he showed a clear inclination toward spiritual life from an early age. He first became a regular canon at the monastery of Saint Vincent, and later in Coimbra. His vocation took a decisive turn when he encountered five Franciscan friars who had been martyred in Morocco, whose bodies passed through his monastery. The witness of these men, who had given their lives for Christ and the preaching of the Gospel, moved him deeply. A radical change then took place in his life, and he entered the newly founded Franciscan Order, changing his name and adopting that of Anthony. Voluntary poverty and love for the most humble became the backbone of his existence.   Antonio de Torres reflected this understanding in the religious scene before us, using a refined and delicate brush and demonstrating great compositional quality. The saint, standing on a platform at the center of the work like a beacon of light, is surrounded by the poor and the sick, who are nourished by his word of hope, which becomes their bread. They listen attentively, as does the friar who watches and listens in wonder from a window, all under the blessing of the Mother of Heaven and her Son, who inspire him with their strength. With only his habit and the inner strength granted by God, in perfect harmony with the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi, he was not a modern activist but rather a saint profoundly committed to the social consequences of the Gospel. He walked with the poor who are present around him, becoming their light, their point of reference, and an intercessor for millions. Torres does not merely portray the saint of miracles or the saint of lost objects; he perfectly captures the saint who helps those devoted to him to find the path of compassion, justice, and charity, lived with boldness. His life was a hymn to the Gospel incarnated among the poor, and his legacy continues to inspire all who seek a faith expressed through works and a hope grounded in commitment.   As for the author, Antonio de Torres was a Novohispanic painter about whom little information has been preserved. However, Lázaro Gila Medina, a doctor in Art History from the University of Granada, recently conducted two studies in which he unveiled a previously unknown series of paintings of the Virgin Mary (in 2015) and a 'Holy Ecce Homo' and a 'Dormition of the Virgin' (in 2020). This significant discovery was accompanied by a novel biographical approach, gathering scattered information—some of it very difficult to access—and bringing in new information from his research. The 2015 study marked the first comprehensive overview of Torres' life and professional career. We base this profile on these studies and refer the reader to them for further information if needed. First and foremost, Antonio de Torres should not be confused with his namesake, who “worked, starting from the second third of the 18th century in Seville, just when this artist had already passed away.” The Novohispanic painter, as Medina informs us, directed a large workshop and enjoyed remarkable professional prestige, evidenced by the numerous and large-scale commissions he received from “the great capital of the viceroyalty, […] almost all the territory of New Spain, […] and even from other geographical areas far away.” As we read in his study, Torres became an official painter at the age of 19 and was recognized as a master painter by 1697, at the age of 30. His workshop received commissions that were “not only individual paintings but also large series, especially of religious themes, which he could undertake thanks to his complex workshop.” It is likely that his uncle Antonio Rodríguez would have been his teacher. However, his uncle was not his only artistic influence, as “in the Mexican artistic landscape of the time, there were other renowned painters of the high baroque,” such as Cristóbal de Villalpando, Juan Correa, or Juan Sánchez Salmerón—contemporaries but not peers of the painter. Torres belonged to a key generation that bridged these masters of the high baroque and the following generation, already part of the late baroque, including José de Ibarra (1685-1756), Miguel Cabrera (1695-1768), and José de Páez (1720-1790). The previously unknown paintings presented by Medina in both studies added to an already established artistic corpus formed by numerous series. In his article for the Annals of the Museum of America , Medina revealed “seven paintings dedicated to the most relevant episodes in the life of Mary, plus an eighth featuring the Virgin of Guadalupe […] scattered across different sections of the Franciscan convent of the Incarnation in Granada, and according to oral tradition within the community of nuns, they arrived as part of a novice’s dowry upon entering the convent.” The series of canvases is signed and dated 1626, while the Guadalupe painting is dated 1624. Both sets of artworks belong to “his second and final professional stage, spanning from 1724 until his death in 1731,” during which time the 'Holy Ecce Homo' of 1726, located in the portal of the same convent, was also created—as stated by Medina in his article for Laboratorio de Arte. This painting is a copy of another devotional image from New Spain, an original painting now lost that was once situated in the Merchants’ Portal of the Plaza Mayor. In the same study, Medina also presents “an excellent previously unknown painting of the ‘Dormition of the Virgin’ from the community of Diocesan Operative Priests in Mexico City […] dated 1713; consequently, it corresponds to his first professional stage,” from 1703 to 1722, when he suffered a significant but temporary decline in health. Bibliographic references: - Medina, Lázaro Gila. (2015). “Aproximación a la vida y obra del pintor novohispano Antonio de Torres (1667-1731) y estudio de una serie inédita mariana del convento de la Encarnación de Granada de franciscanas clarisas”. Anales del Museo de América, (23), 82-113. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5612873 - Medina, Lázaro Gila. (2020). “Dos nuevas obras del pintor novohispano Antonio de Torres (1667-1731): el Santo Ecce Homo del portal del convento de la Encarnación de Granada y la Dormición de la Virgen del Seminario de Sacerdotes Operarios Diocesanos de Ciudad de México”. Laboratorio de Arte: Revista del Departamento de Historia del Arte, (32), 207-230. [http://dx.doi.org/10.12795/LA.2020.i32.11]. Colonial Spanish America.