Bocanegra, Pedro Atanasio
Granada (Spain), 1638 - Granada (Spain), 1689In the late sixteen-sixties, this disciple of Alonso Cano became the most active artist in his native city. In 1665-1666, he made a series of canvases for the cloister of the convent of Nuestra Señora de Gracia (lost) and between 1668 and 1672 he painted numerous works, including The Conversion of Saint Paul for the altar at the Jeuite school, now the church of Los Santos Justo y Pastor (in situ). At the same time, he was commissioned to decorate the Charterhouse in Granada with large scenes of the life of the Virgin, including two that entered the Museo del Prado from the Museo de la Trinidad: The Virgin Appearing to Saint Bernard and The Virgin and Saint Peter Deliver the Rule to some Carthusian Friars. Following a brief stay in Seville, he moved to the court in Madrid in 1686, where he was a protegé of don Pedro de Toledo, Marquis of Mancera. The marquis helped him obtain the title of King's Painter "ad honorem" for his Allegory of Justice (Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid), which was based on a mid 16th-century Venetian engraving. Other surviving works by Bocanegra included The Adoration of the Eucharist (convent of Las Góngoras, Madrid), portraits of members of the Trinitarian Order (Palace of Charles V, Granada) and various paintings of The Virigin and Child with different Saints and The Triumph of David, which entered the Museo del Prado from various legacies and donations. After returning to his native city, Bocanegra met painter and architect Teodoro de Ardemans, whom he portrayed on a canvas now at the Archbishop's Palace in Granada.