Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos

Gregorio Vasquez de Arce y Ceballos, commonly known as Gregorio Vasquez, was a Spanish Neogranadine painter who lived from 1638 to 1711, considered one of the leading artists of the Hispanic American Baroque movement in the Viceroyalty of New Granada. Born in Bogota to a criollo family of Andalusian origin, he trained at the St Bartolome College and as an apprentice to the painter Baltasar Vargas de Figueroa, and most of his work depicts the life of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the saints and scenes from the New Testament. In 1701 he was imprisoned over his involvement in a kidnapping, and after his release fell into poverty and reportedly lost his sanity, never painting again before his death in 1711.