Colonial Magritte?
This work, signed by “Ledesma” in 1768, alludes to the passion of Christ, but without depicting him. The artist was perhaps inspired by some engravings in which the tunic takes the place of Jesus Christ as the protagonist, surrounded by instruments of the passion, and sometimes some characters, such as the one made by Hieronymus Wierix around 1586, as part of a book entitled Passio Domino Nostri Iesu Christi, with twenty-one engravings with the theme of the passion. These works have been called Arma Christi, or Weapons of Christ, and were common in northern Europe from the 15th century. The New Spanish painting not only depicts the passion instruments but, around the tunic, arranged in a way that recalls the crucified body, are Mary and John, who accompanied him in that painful moment, God the Father, who will receive him in heaven and some cherubs. Christ's weapons, or rather the instruments of th...