The Brooklyn Museum has acquired a rare secular painting from colonial Peru.
“A Merry Company along the Banks of the Rimac River” was painted in the 18th century in Lima. It comes from the viceroyalty of Peru.
The museum purchased the painting by the unknown artist with proceeds from the sale of another work in its collection.
It says it’s a work that would have been displayed in an elite household “as a visible demonstration of the owner’s … privilege within the Spanish empire.”
It shows a multi-racial group of people enjoying the grounds of a country estate.
A majority of surviving Spanish colonial paintings are religious in nature.
The work will be a highlight of a show at the museum next year.