Supper with the Saints

Have you ever thought what it might be like to meet a living saint and perhaps share a meal and a conversation? This was the experience of Doña Guiomar (far left), a wealthy widow who lived in Avila in the mid 16th century. She welcomed into her house leading religious figures of the time and was a patron of the Discalced Franciscans, with whom St. Peter of Alcántara (second from right) was affiliated, and of the Reformed Carmelite Order founded by St. Teresa of Ávila (second from left). According to legend Doña Guiomar introduced Peter and Teresa in 1558. Followers of both Peter and Teresa wrote of occasions in which they witnessed Peter being given food and drink by Christ (far right), who also attends this banquet painted around 1730 in Mexico by Gaspar Muñoz de Salazar.

While clearly religious painting, Muñoz sets the scene in an entirely domestic setting that includes a delightful portrayal of pets, a subject that is uncommon in Mexican colonial art. The four figures sit in 18th-century green covered chairs around a table, with a silver saltcellar at its the centre and with food and silverware strewn about. The fruits on the table appear to represent a mixture of those introduced to the Americas from Europe (grapes, pear, pomegranate) and ones native to the Americas (chirimoya, guanabana, chilis).