Catalogue Entry

In his autobiography, Torres-García describes how the Peruvian artist Carlos Baca Flor commissioned him to create a painting of Santa Teresa on behalf of the New York industrialist, Archer M. Huntington.  The painting was intended for the altar of The Church Our Lady of Esperanza, located at 624 West 156th Street in New York.  To be hung alongside a canvas of St. Joseph and the Child by the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, Torres-García's commission replaced that of the Spanish artist, Raimundo de Madrazo, who died in 1920 before completing work.

According to Torres-García, Baca Flor expressed his disappointment that the artist's new version of the Santa Teresa had been painted in only five days.  It is unknown whether or if the painting was ever included in the altarpiece.  However, when writing his autobiography, Torres-García relates that the work was no longer in the church, and that the priests thought that “it didn’t inspire devotion.“