The Journal of California Anthropology

Even for the most casual observer, the cycle of the Stations of the Cross in the Museum of the Mission San Gabriel Archangel is a compelling visual encounter. For the art historian, it offers as well a fascinating exercise in speculation as to what extent the painter, presumably the Indian neophyte Juan Antonio, was attempting to follow, as best he could, a European prototype representing the agonies of Christ on the Road to Calvary and to what degree we may assume the ingredient of his native imagination and expressive power. Quite obviously, both factors are involved.