The Art of Gold: Viceregal Pictures and Ancient Jewelry

Colnaghi New York is delighted to announce the exhibition The Art of Gold: Viceregal Pictures and Ancient Jewelry. The presentation brings together twenty-three pieces of ancient jewellery spanning cultures and periods from the Archaic Greek and Phoenician worlds to Norse, Javanese, and Renaissance traditions.

Alongside these exceptional jewels, the exhibition features seven Latin American Viceregal paintings. As Spain began colonising Latin America in the early sixteenth century, art became an essential instrument of the Catholic Church. Initially, paintings and sculptures were imported directly from Spain; however, from the mid-sixteenth century onward, the Church established guilds and workshops dedicated to training indigenous artisans locally.

The Old Master works presented in the exhibition emerged from these workshops, which gave rise to some of the most important artistic genres within Latin American art history, reflecting the complex cultural exchanges between European and indigenous traditions.