The Queen of the Angels

Askari Mateos
Building on European art over 250 years ago, there was an important production of religious art which nowadays is distributed in several states of The Mexican republic. But perhaps it is the work of the painter from Tlalixtac, Miguel Cabrera (1695 – 1768), which has stood out over time.
Conscious of this, every year the organizers of the Festival of the Historic Center of the City of Mexico, select an important piece from some temple to be restored. On this occasion it was the turn of “La Reina de Los Angeles” (The Queen of the Angels), [Regina Angelorum),which dates from 1767 and belongs to the treasures that Miguel Cabrera to be found in the Metropolitan Cathedral.

The reason is that despite his fine technique and the excellent materials he used, the permanence of the works of Cabrera has not been a mere coincidence. Many hands have intervened in its restoration to safeguard the vast production of the painter from New Spain, among them Monica Baptista, whose restoration shop “Restaruo y Conservación” has the task of working on Regina Angelorum, a monumental piece measuring 4 x 3 meters which was located in the eastern transept of the temple and which forms a part of a four part set painted by in 1776, just a year before his death.

Baptista said that the piece was picked up in September of 1994 and it is programmed to be returned next March, but it will not be until the 20th. of April, in the presence of the Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico is re-inaugurated.
It is to be expected that with the passage of time, traveling, dust, dirt and dryness, the “Queen of the Angles” had suffered the unavoidable deterioration. However states Baptista upon receiving it, she stated that the piece had tears, bumps, filth, and repainting and soot from the thousands of candles consumed in it’s presence over almost 250 years.

The other three pieces that she also plans to restore if the necessary funds are collected, are practically in the same condition. She added.
Baptista, who studied painting in the Academy of Fine Arts of Belgium, became dedicated to the world of restoration thanks to an invitation to participate as an apprentice in the shop of a restorer in that country.

When she returned from Belgium she started to work at the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) and she participated in the restoration of collections from all the regional museums of the country because all of the pre-Hispanic sites and items, as well as colonial located in churches, convents and other religious places, they belong to the nation and are under the guard of INAH, which implies a vast world of works to be preserved, also the works of the XIX and XX centuries are the competence of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA).

However, although professional restoration is now quite modern, the international orthodox guidelines, there are set work processes in Mexico from 40 years ago, and the INAH has established schools and workshops that benefit the nation, there are not enough people to properly develop the vastness of our heritage, and it is not always easy to find the funding necessary to carry them out. That is why it is urgent to educate the common citizen to preserve and not maltreat the pieces and monuments and to not sack the convents or temples, because the heritage is unique and although you can’t take it home with you it belongs to you I assure you.

Baptista, who worked on the restoration of the painting of the plaster of the chapel of the apostles located in the entrance of the choir loft of the ex-convent of Santo Domingo and on the pieces by Miguel Cabrera that are on exhibit in the Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños and which belong to the Museum of Zacatecas, claims that idea of production and conservation of art is changing a lot. “Cabrera was an artist, but he also was a religious person, for him, painting Regina Angelorum as an act of devotion which made them lasting things”.

That is why, she pointed out, “They will be the only contemporary works that go through the centuries and be conserved, in this case the works done by Oaxacan Masters with seeds and natural elements which didn’t last long and were born to die”.

And she adds: “Contemporary art is no longer made to last hundreds of years because conservation has become a difficult task”. It will be other methods, such as photography, movies and journalism, which detail their existence but not their transcendence.

“This started with modern art. The “happenings” brought works of the moment and, although nowadays not all art is produced in that way, a large part is very volatile. But it is the work of the restorer to continuously work behind the artist, quietly, and to preserve it for other generations.