La destrucción de la misión de San Sabá en la provincia de Texas y el martirio de lo padres fray Alonso Giraldo de Terreros y fray José de Santiesteban or The Destruction of the San Sabá Mission.  Painted sometime between 1758 and 1765, this is the first documented painting of an historical event in Texas.  

This page offers useful information but calls the picture a “mural”–which it is not; it’s a very large oil painting on canvas. (Go to the first link above for an expanded version.) Some years ago its ownership was in dispute. Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts was not a party to the suit, so the director offered to display it in a secure, climate controlled gallery. Therefore, I spent considerable time gazing on the grisly thing.  

The events shown are apparently accurate–at least, they match a survivor’s account. Various tribes (not just the Comanches–everybody always blames the Comanches!) objected to Spain missionizing the Apaches. Thus the attack. Note the red jacket on one attacker–supposedly supplied by the French, who also supplied muskets. Other powers always looked enviously toward Texas….

The artist did take liberties with the landscape.  San Sabá, like so much of Texas, was and is very much flatter….