Conquest and Colonial

The Conquest ofLatin América

1492-

Columbus

“discovers

America”

1501-

Portugues

e

exploratio

n of Brazil

1507-

First time

America is

shown on

a map

1508-

Juan

Ponce de

Leon takes

over

Puerto

Rico

1509- Juan

de Esquivel

takes

Jamaica +

Alonso de

Hojeda

leads an

expedition

to the

Venezuelan

and

Columbian

coast

1511-

First

Spanish

town on

the

American

mainland:

Santa

Maria la

Antigua

de Darien

(Conquest

of Cuba)

1513-

Discovery

of the

Pacific

Ocean

1519-

1521

Hernan

Cortes

conquers

the Aztecs

for Spain

1522-

Papal letter

Omnimoda

entrusts

evangelizat

ion of

natives in

Spanish

America to

regular

clergy

1532-6

Francisco

Pizarro

conquers

the Incas

1541

Foundatio

n of

Santiago

de Chile

SPANISH COLONIZATION OF THE AMERICAS

The Spanish Empire was looking for a shorter trade route to Asia in order to obtain spices, silks, goods etc.

Accidently, they “discovered” the Americas and soon discovered that it was an enormous content full of GOODS. Foods, spices, materials, labor and most importantly gold and silver.

The Spanish had been fighting the Muslims in the 700 year war and needed more gold/silver to continue funding their domination of Europe.

To further cement the Spanish as leaders of the world, they would name a portion of the Americas as New Spain.

CONQUEST OF MEXICO

• The Spanish campaign began in February 1519, and was declared victorious on August 13, 1521.

• when a coalition army of Spanish forces and native Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger captured the emperor Cuauhtémoc and Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire.

• During the campaign, Cortés was given support from a number of tributaries and rivals of the Aztecs, including the Totonacs, and the Tlaxcaltecas, Texcocans, and other city-states particularly bordering Lake Texcoco.

THE CONQUEST OF THE AZTECS

• Cortes and his remaining men

hover around the Valley of Mexico

to recover and revisit the subject

cities they had made peace with

• One group in particular, the

Tlaxcalans, add 40,000 warriors

overnight to Cortes’s rodeleros

• Cortes and Dona Marina locate

the fresh water aqueducts to

Tenochtitlan and destroy them,

stop goods to the city and wait for

months as the Aztecs starve and die

from smallpox

• The Spaniard/Indigenous

coalition experience a hard defense

by the Aztec army, street by street,

until the Templo Mayor plaza is

reached and its shrines torched

CONQUEST OF SOUTH AMERICA

• Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador, who was a distant cousin of Hernán Cortés.

• Reports of Peru's riches and Cortés's success in Mexico tantalized Pizarro and he undertook two expeditions to conquer the Incan Empire

• In 1532, accompanied by his brothers, Pizarro overthrew the Inca leader Atahualpa and conquered Peru.

• Three years later, he founded the new capital city of Lima. This area would be known to the Spanish as the Viceroyalty of Peru.

• During the siege of Cuzco, Francisco Pizarro had 200 Spaniards and 30,000 native Huancas, Cañaris and Chachapoyas.

• The column of Diego de Almagro, who went into Chile, had 500 Spaniards, 100 African slaves and about 10,000 auxiliary Indians.

COLONIZATION THEORY

• According to various theories, colonization of another people/country usually follows the same pattern.

• To fully colonize a nation you must conquer/dominate:

• Culture

• Spirituality

• Identity

• We will examine all 3 of these areas through art.

OLD WORLD

Old World native plants. Clockwise, from top left: 1. Citrus (Rutaceae); 2. Apple (Malus domestica); 3. Banana (Musa); 4. Mango (Mangifera); 5. Onion (Allium); 6. Coffee (Coffea); 7. Wheat (Triticum spp.); 8. Rice (Oryza sativa)

OLD WORLD TO NEW WORLD

Cat (domestic- wild species already present)

Chicken

Cow Donkey

Ferret Goat

Goose (domestic) Honey bee

Horse Rabbit

Pig Rats

Pigeons Sheep

Silkworm Water buffalo

OLD WORLD TO NEW WORLD INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Bubonic plague Chicken pox

Cholera Common cold

diphtheria Influenza

Leprosy Malaria

Measles Scarlet fever

Smallpox Typhoid

Typhus Whooping cough

Yellow fever

INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Smallpox will be the primary disease to kill the Amerindians.

It is estimated that around 90% of the indigenous population in the Aztec Empire is killed by disease alone.

EUROPEAN CUSTOMS

• Along with the introduction of Spanish as the official language of New Spain (Viceroyalty of New Spain) and the Viceroyalty of Peru, we also will have the introduction of European customs.

• Dress

• Religion

• Societal customs

• Government

• Taxation

• Segregation

Conquest & Negotiations

• Serge Gruzinksi: “The Conquest- a clash of completely different world views as well as a military undertaking- entailed not only the political and economic transformation of the former Aztec Empire but also unleased one of the most terrible iconoclastic campaigns in history. Buildings, sculptures, feathered costumes, pictorial manuscripts, and untold objects of unexceptional beauty were all destroyed as evidence of pagan beliefs. Nevertheless, a few distant Indians hid or even continued to make prohibited images well into the seventieth century , especially in remote areas..”

Religion

• The only religion acceptable in Spain was Catholicism, and an almost extreme form made its way to the Americas.

• However, a hybrid form of Catholicism would become the norm.

• Indigenous beliefs would not be fully conquered nor destroyed.

• Example: Aztec mother goddess Tonzantin replaced by the Virgen de Guadalupe

EVANGELIZATION THROUGH ART

• New forms of art emerged in workshops, schools

and secular and religious spaces in the former

Tenochtitlan (now renamed Mexico City) and Cusco,

Peru.

• The hybridization of art and culture will create the

foundation for our present day Latin American

cultures.

• Art will become the most effective method of

colonization

• Catholic friars introduced many ceremonies and

rites all throughout the regions of Latin America,

that substituted the religious ceremonies the

Amerindians had for their pagan religions.

• However, the main problem the friars faced was

that often Indian conversions were, at best,

superficial.

Outdoor stone cross with obsidian mirror insert (Ciudad Hidalgo, Michoacán)

EVANGELIZATION THROUGH ART

• The conversion efforts of the friars in

New Spain yielded a syncretism,

where although the Indians practiced

the new faith with a relatively

adequate understanding of its

Doctrine

• they integrated many native symbols

into it, as well as internal and external

pagan religious customs.

SYNCRETISM

• The friars in their conversion efforts took

advantage of coincidental similarities

between Christian and native religions.

• Since both religious systems featured

structures of classifying divine beings,

whether Aztec deities or Catholic saints, with

special attributes and qualities.

SYNCRETISM

The ancestral cult of the rain and agricultural fertility god Tlaloc offers a typical example of syncretism.

For Tlaloc, the friars substituted the image of San Isidro Labrador, the protector of the fields and the harvest.

Interestingly, many images of San Isidro actually feature the face of the pagan god Tlaloc.

This indicates that for the natives of certain parts of Mexico, San Isidro and Tlaloc, although dressed differently, represent the same personage.

EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE

• The importation of European styles of art

were immediately transported into the New

World, especially when it comes to monastic

buildings.

• Architecture is always a symbol of power.

• Churches, monasteries, official buildings

and entire cities were constructed in the

European fashion and were erected

immediately after the Conquest.

• styles:

• Renaissance style

• Gothic Style

• Baroque Style

Santuario Diocesano de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

Zamora, Michoacán, Mexico

EUROPEAN ART

• Along with the architecture and customs

comes of course, the introduction of

European art and European techniques.

• Pre-Columbian sculptures of basalt are now

replaced with images made of marble and

metals.

• Throughout the Colonial period, we will have

new styles of art that are created through a

hybridization of two cultures from

opposites sides of the world

COLONIAL ART

1521-1821

Codex and Codices

• A codex is a book constructed of a number of sheets of paper, vellum, papyrus, or similar materials, with hand-written content.

• Through codices we are able to “read” the daily life of the Aztecs

• The Aztecs were the illustrators of many of the popular codices we know today.

• Franciscan Friars were asked by the Spanish crown to report on various aspects of daily life in New Spain or Mexico.

CODEX AND CODICES

The Aztecs did not create codices on their own like the Maya and Mixtec did

A large portion of the Aztec codices were lost in various circumstances, either at sea or by theft

The first codices were drafted less than 10 years after the conquest of Mexico in August 1521 AD

Daily Life More importantly, we are able to

study and understand the daily life

of the Aztecs.

Which until now is almost non-

existent in Mesoamerican art.

• Medicine

• Marriages

• Music and Dance

• Ceremonial Rituals

• Warfare

• Artisans

• Food

• Flora and Fauna

• Child rearing and raising

The Florentine Codex

The Florentine Codex is a 16th-century

ethnographic research project in

Mesoamerica by Franciscan friar Bernardino

de Sahagún.

In partnership with Nahua men who were

formerly his students at the Colegio de

Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, Sahagún

conducted research, organized evidence,

wrote and edited his findings starting in

1545 up until his death in 1590.

The work consists of 2,400 pages organized

into twelve books; more than 2,000

illustrations drawn by native artists provide

vivid images of this era.

It documents the culture, religious

cosmology (worldview) and ritual practices,

society, economics, and natural history of

the Aztec people

Florentine Codex

• Divided into 12 volumes

• Aztec gods and other aspects of religion

• Medicine

• Aztec history

• Flora and Fauna

• Ceremonies

• Astronomy

• The Merchants (Pochteca)

• The Conquest of Tenochtitlan

CEREMONIES AND RITUALS

MEDICINE MEN

CURING THE SICK

AMANTECA

Amanteca- Nahuatl for Feather worker.

Through the codices we are able to see the conditions, and work environment of the artists of the Aztec Empire.

Artists played an important role in Aztec society because theyproducer of religious sculptures and temples. were the

Amantecas were highly regarded as they created royal regalia, military shields and ceremonial attire.

Amanteca, Textile worker, Metal worker

Aztec musicians with their instruments

Codex Mendoza

• The Codex Mendoza contains illustrations describing:

• The founding of Tenochtitlan

• Tribute records

• Commoner life

• The accomplishments of each Aztec tlatoani (Ruler)

• Warfare traditions

• Aztec law

• Clothing

CODEX MENDOZA

The Codex Mendoza has a folio chapter in Book 1 that describes the responsibilities for Aztec youths at certain years of their life

Year numbers are represented by the blue dots appearing above their heads on the left side of the Folio

Example: At 13 Years old, boys are expected to gather reeds from Lake Texcoco and carry them back to their houses.

Girls are expected to help grind maize to make tortillas

Images of tribute

Note* jaguar pellets, jade, feathered shields and raw textiles

Child Rearing

WARRIOR ATTIRE

The Aztecs were less interested in practical use and quality of their armor, shields and helmets, but more towards the visual spectacle on the battlefield

The figure on the right is an outfit worn by the most decorated and courageous Aztecs soldier, the Jaguar Warrior.

This armor was made from brown eagle feathers and black bird feathers to create the appearance of a jaguar pelt

Amantecas

• Feathers were valued similarly to jade and turquoise in Mesoamerica.

• They were considered to have magical properties as symbols of fertility, abundance, riches and power and those who used them were associated with divine powers

• feather work specialists impressed Spanish conquerors, leading to a creative exchange with Europe.

• Featherwork pieces took on European motifs in Mexico.

• Feathers and feather works became prized in Europe.

• The "golden age" for this technique as an art form was from just before the Spanish conquest to about a century afterwards.

Amantecas

• At the beginning of the 17th century, it began a decline due to the death of the old masters, the disappearance of the birds that provide fine feathers and the depreciation of indigenous handiwork.

• Feather work, especially the creation of "mosaics" or "paintings" principally of religious images

Tequitqui

• Tequitqui: “Indo-Christian” a style of art produced during the colonization of New Spain.

• It is the Indian redefinition and reinterpretation of European art and architecture.

• It combines the European artistic tradition with the Indian aesthetic.

TEQUITQUI

• Renaissance influence

• importation of prints.

• Painted by an artist in Texcoco,

we have the traditional

iconography of Tlaloc rendered

flat, in accordance with our

traditional codice style.

• However, the body of the god,

reveal’s the painter’s adoption

of chiaroscuro effects, and a

contrapposto stance

• probably derived from the

prints of the Apollo Belvedere, a

widely illustrated Roman

sculpture.

• A graphic melding of two pagan

gods.

Left: Tlaloc from Codex Ixtilxotchitl, 1582 Right: Print of Apollo Belvedere

THE MASS OF ST. GREGORY1539

• Feather art + Christian iconography

• The oldest dated feather work with a Christian subject.

• Made by or for Diego Huanutzin, nephew and son-in-law of Moctezuma II to present to Pope Paul III.

• Pope Gregory the Great kneels before an altar and receives a vision of Christ and the symbols of the Passion.

• Based on a Flemish engraving of around 1500

• the amanteca eliminated complex architectural details while including subtle patterns in the men’s robes and on the altar cloth that seem more indigenous than Spanish.

• Israhel van Meckenem. Mass of St. Gregory. 1490-5.Engraving

CRUCIFIX (CORNSTALK-PASTE)

1550, SPAIN

Although no pagan images in this

technique survive, early workshops

created Christian images using the

same method:

an armature of cornstalk and paper

was covered with a sort of plaster-

made with the whitish heart of the

cornstalk, certain orchids, maguey

fiber, and a natural glue- and then

gessoed and painted.

Dozens of cornstalk-paste figures of

Jesus and other saints were exported

to Spain, where they were donated to

churches and highly coveted for use

in religious processions.

BATTLE SCENE. CHURCH OF SAN MIGUEL, IXMIQUILPAN(HIDALGO, MEXICO) 1569-72Swirling acanthus leaves serve as pedestals for warriors dressed as jaguar and coyote knights wielding obsidian-edged clubs, who fight centaurs and semi-nude figures carrying bows and arrows.

Despite the prominent Classical motifs, pre-Conquest iconography-including speech scrolls, shields, and trophy heads-predominates.

BATTLE SCENE. CHURCH OF SAN MIGUEL, IXMIQUILPAN(HIDALGO, MEXICO) 1569-72The deeper meaning of the mural is not clear although it is likely that the scenes were based on actual theatrical performances held in the area.

One theory holds that the murals show the local Otomí(who had already converted to Christianity) fighting pagan Chichimecs (who continued to resist the Spaniards).

This multivalent mural cycle spoke to the timeworn theme of Good versus Evil and was thus acceptable to the Augustinians.

Santo Domingo in Yanhuitlan, Oaxaca, 16th century.

• In this baptismal font, the legs are carved into 4 Plumed Serpents, each spitting up another Plumed Serpent, a common motif in indigenous art.

Cathedral, Cuernavaca, Morelos, 16th Century

• Cuauhxicalli

• The Aztecs used these stone recipients to contain sacrificial hearts or blood.

• Often decorated with animal motifs such as eagles or jaguars, this example bears a human skull.

• This vessel stands at the foot of the atrium cross ready to receive the blood of Christ for Holy Communion.

Cuauhxicalli

Convent of San Juan Bautista, Cuauhtinchan, Puebla, Mexico

Cuautinchan

• The portrayal of an eagle may also relate to the town name of Cuautinchan, signifying House of the Eagles.

Mural of the AnnunciationAnonymous 1569• Over the door in the cloister, there is a

curious mural painting of the Annunciation to Mary by the archangel Gabriel. (Announces to Mary that she is carrying the Christ child)

• Painted in a European style- adapted from a late Medieval print or engraving

Martin Schongauer

The Annunciation, c. 1484

Jean PucelleHours of Jeanne d'Evreux, 1324-28

MURAL OF THE ANNUNCIATION

MURAL

The Christian is flanked by an eagle and a jaguar painted in typical Pre-Hispanic Codex style.

The eagle represents the god Huitzilopochtli, the Sun of the Day and jaguar is Tezcatlipoca, The Sun of the Night.

The two elements as a couple represents the duality of light and darkness, and the warriors called Eagle or Jaguar Knights had the sacred charter to maintain the Life of these deities and the balance of the Universe through warfare and sacrifice.

CROSSMONASTERY OF ST.

AUGUSTIN ACOLMAN, MEXICO 1550

The cross is the central symbol of the

Christians and represents the death

of Christ who with his resurrection

made possible the redemption of

human beings.

A realistic head of Christ in bulk at

the intersection of the arms and the

shaft, a chalice, pliers, a ladder, the

spear, a palm lead, a human bone

and a skull.

The arms of the cross are decorated

with vegetal motifs like flowers,

vines, and leaves. Each arm ends with

a stylized fleur-de-lys.

The base that supports the cross

intends to emphasize the theme of

Calvary, showing a crude image of

INRIAugustinian emblem

The arms are decorated with vegetable motifs like flowers, vines and leaves

Symbols of the Passion

Skull with bones

Virgin of the Sorrows

the Christian cross was understood by

the Axis Mundi that connected the gods

of the Upperworld and Undrerworld with

the human beings on the surface of the

earth.

In Mesoamerican vision of the World,

the cycle of planting and harvesting of

the maize became sacred because it was

the main source of sustenance for

humans. At the same time the cycle of

the maize was a metaphor for the death

and rebirth of humankind.

This same agricultural and

cosmological belief was somewhat

compatible with the Christian idea that

God came to the world incarnated as

Jesus Christ dying with a great deal of

suffering like any mortal create.

He rose form the dead and the blood of

So, for the Indian view, Christ is the

Maize God and the Cross is the

maize plant.

The fleurs-de-lys at the end of the

arms of the cross are the sprouts

of the maize plant that represent

the endless rebirth of fertility and

life.

The carved flowers, vines and

leaves that decorate the arms are

the vines of beans and squash that

the grow together in the milpas

LA VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE Location: Tepeyac Hill, Mexico City

Date: December 12, 1531

4 apparitions to Juan Diego, a Indian native

December 9, 1531, a native American

peasant named Juan Diego saw a vision of a

maiden at a place called the Hill of

Tepeyac, which would become part of Villa

de Guadalupe, a suburb of Mexico City.

Speaking to him in his native Nahuatl

language, the maiden identified herself as

the Virgin Mary, "mother of the very true

deity" and asked for a church to be built at

that site in her honor.

VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE

Following the Conquest in 1519–21,

the Spanish destroyed a temple of the

mother goddess Tonantzin at Tepeyac

outside Mexico City, and built a chapel

dedicated to the Virgin on the site.

Newly converted Indians continued to

come from afar to worship there, often

addressing the Virgin Mary as

Tonantzin

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage

site in the world, and the world's third

most-visited sacred site

José Juárez, The Virgin of Guadalupe with Apparitions, Spain. 1656 Oil on Canvas

* Juan Diego is the first indigenous Catholic saint of the Americas

No single image had a greater impact on the history of Mexican art than that of the Virgin de Guadalupe

Virgin of Guadalupe serves as a pure intercessor between man and God, and a symbol of maternal love and fertility

MIGUEL GONZÁLEZVIRGEN DE GUADALUPE

• The Virgin placed atop an eagle perched

on a cactus, Mexico City’s legendary coat

of arms.

• This is a significant detail that points to

the rapid Creolization of the cult of the

Virgin of Guadalupe in the second half of

the seventeenth century, and her

increasing association with a local sense

of identity.

• This technique is known as enconchadoand exists solely in Mexico.

• Enonchados were inspired by imported

furniture from China, India and Japan.

Copy of Juan Diego’s tilmafrom1531

JOSÉ RIBERA Y ARGOMANIS

THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE

1778, OIL ON CANVAS• The familiar apparition is compressed

and attention is given to the two Indians

that flank the Virgin.

• Juan Diego (left) offers the Virgin roses,

representing the devotion of indigenous

converts

• A feather-covered Indian (right)

symbolizes the unconverted nomadic

Indians of the northern frontier.

• The Virgin hovers above an eagle

perched on a cactus, the symbol of

Mexico City, equally confirming her

spiritual and juridical authority over the

colony and by implication the special

status of those who lived there.

ARCHITECTURE

• Architecture is and always has been used deliberately and unintentionally to define relationships among individuals, interest groups, cities, and nations.

• Those relationships, weather adversarial or not, are based on power.

• Power can be political, economic, social, cultural or any other.

• Power play through architecture is not limited to legislative buildings.

• It is the nature of subjugation that decides the trend in architecture.

• For example, to assert their power over the native Amerindian populations in Latin America, the Spanish and Portuguese rulers resorted to building

Catholic churches as a symbol of might of Christianity and the power of God/good over paganism.

• Thus, giving justification to the conquest and their domination.

• Architecture becomes physical metaphors of conquest and colonization of power and culture.

Baroque

• 1600-1750

• opulent use of color and

ornaments

• large-scale ceiling frescoes

• an external façade often

characterized by a dramatic

central projection

• Highly theatrical

• emphasis was placed on

bold massing, colonnades,

domes, light-and-shade

(chiaroscuro), 'painterly'

color effects, and the bold

play of volume and void

Spanish American Baroque

• 1640s-1800s

• combination of the Native

American and Moorish

decorative influences

• extremely expressive

interpretation of the

Churrigueresque

• Twin tower façades

• American Baroque

developed as a style of

stucco decoration

• fantastically extravagant and

visually frenetic architecture

known as Mexican

Churrigueresque

Solomonic

column

spiraling twisting shaft like a

corkscrew

twisted S-curve shaft gives

energy and dynamism

Churrigueresque

a Spanish Baroque style of

elaborate sculptural

architectural ornament

marked by extreme,

expressive and florid

decorative detailing, normally

found above the entrance on

the main facade of a building

Estípites

A column or pilaster, tapered

at the bottom and formed of

several elaborately carved

sections

Mimics the human form

TALAVERA

• is a type of pottery, which is

distinguished by a milky-white

glaze.

• Authentic Talavera pottery only

comes from the city of Puebla. .

• The paint ends up slightly raised

over the base. In the early days, only

a cobalt blue was used.

• Maiolica pottery was brought to

Mexico by the Spanish in the first

century of the colonial period.

• Production of this ceramic became

highly developed in Puebla because

of the availability of fine clays and

the demand for tiles from the newly

established churches and

monasteries in the area

• Came from Asian influences

Solomonic Columns

Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Merced in Lima

built in 1614

Churrigueresque

Temple of San Francisco

Javier

Tepotzotlán, Mexico

1580

Estípite

CHURCH OF CONCEPCÍON,

CHIQUITANÍA, BOLIVIA1752-6

• Monumental size and fortress-like

appearance gave them a dominant

position in their villages and

recalled that of pre-Conquest

temples.

• Wooden and adobe construction,

built like large rectangular halls

divided into three aisles

• Built quickly and without prior

architectural experience

• Large plaza area in the front was

used to perform church ceremonies

outdoors- echoed pre-Conquest

tradition, in which worshippers

stood in a plaza facing the pyramid

IGLESIA DE NUESTRA SEÑORADE LOS REMEDIOS

(CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REMEDIES)1574-1629

CHOLULA, PUEBLA, MEXICO

Recognizing the significance of the

pyramid mound, the Spanish chose to

construct a church upon the remains of

the native temple grounds.

The church is situated atop the

Tlachihualtepetl (Grand Pyramid).

Its worship, like that of its pre-Hispanic

native predecessors, is associated with

the propitiation of the rain.

This archeological structure consists of

several superimposed pyramids,

accumulated over six centuries.

The base is 450 m (1,480 ft) on each side

and 54 m (177 ft) high, twice as large as

that of the Pyramid of the Sun in

Teotihuacan and four times bigger in

Artist rendition of what the Great Pyramid of Cholula would have looked liked. According to myth, the pyramid was built by a giant named Xelhua of adobe bricks, after he escaped a flood in the neighboring Valley of Mexico .The pyramid consists of six superimposed structures, one for each ethnic group that dominated it.

CATHEDRALS

Metropolitan cathedrals and churches

were not merely works of architecture

but the site of incalculable quantities of

artworks, reflecting the patronage of

figures ranging from the kings and

viceroys themselves to civic and

ecclesiastical authorities, religious

orders, confraternities, neighborhoods,

wealthy families and individuals -

European and non-Europeans alike.

Cathedrals were meant to impress the

new subjects of Spain as supreme

examples of ultimate dominion.

During the 16th century more cathedrals

were built in Mexico than in Spain.

dramatic style of Baroque architecture

and art as a means of impressing visitors

and expressing triumph, power and

Santa María La Menor

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

It is the oldest cathedral in the Americas

Begun in 1512 and completed in 1540

METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL OF MEXICO CITY

• Façade divided into 3 vertical sections• Flanked by two towers

1 2 3

SagrarioMetropolitano(Tabernacle)Lorenzo Rodríguez (1749-1768)

The Cathedral serves a perfect example of Baroque style cathedrals. The cathedrals of the New World were heavily supervised during their construction as they are symbols of power, dominance and religion.

METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL OF MEXICO

CITYMEXICO CITY, MEXICO

1573-1817

• Began a decade after the Conquest

and completed in 1817!

• Largest building in Colonial America.

• 360ft long and almost exactly half as

wide and tall.

• Dates mostly from 17th and 18th

centuries

• Composed mostly of brick and

tezontle.*

• Built using the foundation of Templo

Mayor

• Faces south, to face the Zócalo (which

replaced the main Aztec ceremonial

plaza)

• Partly covers the principle Aztec

ARCHITECTURE • Embraces every Spanish style that

ever reached the colonies: Gothic

ribs, Renaissance piers and vaults,

Baroque scrolls, twisted columns,

estípites and Neoclassical finials.

• Rectangular structure enclosing a

Latin cross

• Estípites: A column or pilaster,

tapered at the bottom and formed

of several elaborately carved

sections. Typical of late Baroque

buildings in Spain and Latin

America.

• The façade is Baroque

CHAPELS • Many of the city’s religious orders, guilds

and confraternities had their own side

altar, brimming with gold statues,

paintings and silver adornments.

• There are 16 chapels.

• Each chapel is dedicated to a different

saint or saints, and each was sponsored by

a religious guild.

• The chapels contain ornate altars,

altarpieces, retablos, paintings, furniture

and sculptures.

• The Chapel of Saint Joseph (Spanish:

Capilla de San José), built between 1653

and 1660, contains an image of Our Lord of Cacao, an image of Christ most likely

from the 16th century.

• Its name was inspired from a time when

many indigenous worshipers would give

Two gargantuan Baroque organs (the largest in Latin America)

CUSCO CATHEDRAL 1559-1654

Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of

the Virgin

-The Incas built the temple known as

Kiswarkancha on the main square in

Cusco. It was the Inca temple of Viracocha

-The location of Viracocha's palace was

chosen for the purpose of removing the

Inca religion from Cusco, and replacing it

with Spanish Catholic Christianity.

Because 1559 was only 26 years after the

conquistadores entered Cusco in 1533,

the vast majority of the population was

still of Quechua Inca descent.

The Spaniards used the Incas as a labor

workforce to build the cathedral.• Cathedral format: • Façade divided into 3 vertical sections• Flanked by two towers

THE ROSARY CHAPELSANTO DOMINGOPUEBLA, MEXICO

1690• One of the most overwhelming Baroque

experiences on earth

• Chapel built to house a miraculous image of the Virgin for whom the Dominicans had a special devotion.

• Interweaving, twisting mesh of three-dimensional gold and white stucco covers the walls and dome, incorporating foliate decoration, scrolls, birds, grapes, angels and ribbons

• This technique of stucco work, using a plaster made of flour, egg white and water under gold leaf, was typical of Puebla.

• Design combines tradition of Spain, Italy and Flanders

• Lace-like ornament takes over the architectural elements, sculptures and paintings.

• Allegories of the Life of the Virgin

SAN FRANCISCO ACATEPEC

PUEBLA, MEXICOSan Francisco Acatepec has a

spectacular facade, described by

Mexican art historian Don Manuel

Toussaint as a "porcelain temple."

The entire front is totally covered

with locally produced talavera

(ceramic) tiles in rich reds, blues,

and yellows.

(Talavera is the famous trademark

pottery of the capital city of Puebla,

less than an hour away.)

Usually classified as Baroque

architecture the church boast

incredible decorative details, some

with a distinctly Moorish origin--

especially in the central portal.

SAN FRANCISCO ACATEPEC

PUEBLA, MEXICO

• The front facade features four

alcoves, in two registers, each with

a larger than life-size saint, in the

top register flanked by candlestick

columns, and in the bottom by

tile-covered round columns.

• Tiles laid in herringbone patterns

and tiles decorated with floral

motifs;

yesería (plasterwork) in loops and

flowers (an Arabic tradition)

PARADISE GARDEN MURALCONVENT OF MALINALCO MALINALCO, MEXICO

The frescos of the lower cloister of

Malinalco that depict a botanical

and zoological garden intended to

offer a description and

interpretation of life after death.

PARADISE GARDEN MURAL

CONVENT OF MALINALCO MALINALCO, MEXICO

1571For the Aztecs there were four

possible places to go to in the

Afterlife.

There were heavens/paradises (3) or

Mictlan (the Underworld).

The Aztec heavens were described by

Sahagún as places of fertility and

abundance, full of flowers, fruit and

trees.

Maya and Aztec thought believed that

the souls of the dead were converted

into chalchihuites (precious green

stones) and after 4 years would be

transformed into flying creatures

(birds, butterflies and bees) and return

FLORA AND FAUNA

Most of the plants and animals

depicted are native to Mexico:

Pineapple, tunas, nopal, morning

glory, tlacuache (possum), coyotl,

snakes, parrots, hummingbirds,

monkeys, speech scrolls, celestial

symbols, etc.

Monkeys (ozomatli): depicted are spider monkeys that are hanging from the branches of a cacao tree.

In Mesoamerican cosmogonies, monkeys were ancestral to mankind and endowed with vitalizing, creative powers.

Given their nimble grace, songlike hoots, and manual dexterity, they were perceived as the originators of the performing and visual arts, including the elite profession of scribes and painters.

The Christian connotations toward the monkeys and apes were negative.

They symbolized the sinners and since apes appeared to parody human actions, they represented the lustful nature of man, or man in

SANTA MARIATONANTZINTLA,

PUEBLA, MEXICO1730-1790

• Tonantzintla= Tonantzin (mother

goddess)

• Before the Spanish arrived there was a

small shrine dedicated to the goddess

Tonantzin

• Covered in talavera tile

• considered the ultimate expression of

Mexican Baroque style by Indians

• Reproduced the grotto of Tlaloc as the

paradise of Tonantzin (the Virgin)

• modeled plasterwork iconography: tanned

angels, children with plumes, Mexican

fruits: capulines, tejocotes, nanches,

guava, squash, cacao, chiles, corn cobs

2 Religious Interpretations

In this temple converges the visión of a Christian heaven with a clear indigenous visión.

TLALOC

HEAVENThe natives of

Tonantzintla wanted to

represent in the dome

of the chapel the

heaven of Tlaloc, the

rain god.

And every face you

see, it is not an angel,

but an Indian who died

by lightning or

drowned and

reincarnated in this

sky.

TANNED

ANGELES

Angels with Feathered

Headdresses

PULPIT

. The pulpit is an extraordinary case, because it is the only one decorated with floral motifs and chilies

CHRISTIAN

Images such as the Annunciation and the Coronation of the Virgin Mary are present.

CASTAS

CASTA PAINTINGS OF COLONIAL MÉXICO

Daniela Susana Gutiérrez Valdez

Department of Art

Casta is an Iberian word meaning “lineage”, “breed” or “race”. It is derived from the older Latin word castus,“chaste”, implying

that the lineage has been kept pure.

DEFINING CASTAS IN MEXICO

In the years following the conquest of Mexico, most people fell into three distinct ethnoracial categories: Nahuas(indigenous people), peninsular Spaniards, or Africans (both enslaved and free).

By the early 17th century, these categories broke down quickly and castas were being defined.

Some estimates place the total number of castas in use in colonial Mexico at sixty or more.

WHAT ARE CASTAS?Castas are a “third race” created out of the miscegenation of Spaniards with Amerindians and Black Africans in Colonial Mexico (1521-1821)

According to Becky Tatum's Articulation of the Colonial Model, the final phase of colonization is the creation of a "caste system based on racism".

Each of these castes was entitled to privileges or were restricted within the society because of its caste.

CASTA PAINTINGS

Casta paintings are part of the 18th century artistic tradition of Colonial Latin America.

trace the complex racial mixing or Mestizaje of the people in New Spain.

Each painting depicts a couple along with one or two children.

An inscription describing the ethnoracial make-up of the mother, the father, and the child(ren)

Initially there were 16 original castas

Only about 100 copies exist

Most of these new terms were zoologically based and indicated their association with manual

SISTEMA DE CASTAS1.Español con India, Mestizo

2.Mestizo con Española, Castizo

3.Castiza con Español, Española

4.Español con Negra, Mulato

5.Mulato con Española, Morisca

6.Morisco con Española, Chino

7.Chino con India, Salta atrás

8.Salta atras con Mulata, Lobo

9.Lobo con China, Gíbaro

10.Gíbaro con Mulata, Albarazado

11.Albarazado con Negra, Cambujo

12.Cambujo con India, Sambiaga(Zambiaga)

13.Sambiago con Loba, Calpamulato

14.Calpamulto con Cambuja, Tente en el aire

15.Tente en el aire con Mulata, No teentiendo

16.No te entiendo con India, Torna atrás

Casta paintings typically depict a couple along with one or two children, an inscription describing the enthnoracial make-up of the mother, father and the child(ren).

4. De Español y Negra, Mulata4. Of a Spaniard and a Black woman, Mulata

Miguel Cabrera, 4. De Español y Negra, Mulata 1763.

HOW ARE DIFFERENT RACES PORTRAYED? WHAT IS IMPLIED ABOUT THEIR CHARACTER?

Español y Castiza hace EspañolSpaniard and a Castiza make a

Spaniard

Negro y India hace LoboA Black man and an Indian woman make a

Lobo

WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THESE PAINTINGS?

Some have linked the emphasis on classification and organization to the influence of the Enlightenment

It has been suggested that the meticulous depictions speaks not only the Spanish fascination with race, but also to the leading philosophical and scientific preoccupations of the time

ENLIGHTMENT

Costumes from China (Tartarus Septentrionalis),

from Athanasius Kircher's

China Monumentis qua sacris quà Profanis..., 1667.Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.

RACE AND PERSONALITY

Popular scientific theories include the practice of phrenology and craniometry, which measured skull sizes to determine behavioral attributes. These pseudoscience practices are commonly referred to as scientific racism. Hypothesis of these practices claimed that people of darker tonality and/or not of European decent were the most likely to possess negative habits and personal traits.These results systematically created and justified discrimination practices.

PHRENOLOGYAccording to Phrenology theories, sections

of the brain were linked to specific

behaviors such as drunkenness and

destructiveness.

These areas of the brain, once measured

on the individual, would appear to be

larger and more prominent, thus,

indicating their prone to such behaviors.

Phrenology is now considered to be

scientific racism.

That is, the results of such theories

concluded that negative behavioral

attributes were often associated with

people of color.

CRANIOMETRY

Similarly, Craniometry also associated skull size with behaviors.

Skull shapes that were variant to ideal Greek statues were considered to be more animalistic.

STYLISTIC INFLUENCES

Annibale Carracci, L’Arti per via, 1660. Etching

Prints of street vendors were very popular at this time in Europe.

The famous series of Annibale Carracci entitled Arti of Bologna, for example, was printed for the first time in 1646

and reprinted with new titles in 1740 Perhaps influenced by these street vendor scenes, Casta

paintings also depict people of various lower-class occupations.

JACOB VAN MEURS, MEXICANS AND CORTÉS OUTSIDE OF TENOCHTITLAN, FROM ARNOLDUS, MONTANUS, DE NIEUWE EN ONBEKENDEWEERELD OF BESCHRYVING VAN AMERICA, AMSTERDAM, 1671. Depictions of Amerindians are always generalized

with images of nudity and feathered skirts or

headdresses. The Aztecs who fall to their knees in

front of Cortés and his men in this 1671 image

engraved by Jacob van Meurs for Arnoldus

Montanus's Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld wear this

costume.

There is, however, no evidence that skirts made only

of feathers were ever worn in Mexico, or anywhere

else in the Americas.

This imagery will continue well into the nineteenth

century. It would be the religious aspect of Aztec

life that would fascinate and repulse the Europeans.

Particularly, the ritual of human sacrifice made

Cortés and others describe the inhabitants of

Tenochtitlan as servants of the devil.

Casta Painting, Miguel Cabrera 1763

Flemish Woodcut, Jan de Wael, 17th Century

British Conversational Painting Casta Painting

Spanish Costumbrismo Painting

It is believed that Casta Paintings were influenced by Costumbrismo, an artistic movement that represented daily life and ordinary circumstances

Casta Painting

WHAT DO CASTA PAINTINGS SHOW?

Anonymous

12. de Tente en el Aire y

Mulata, Albarrasado

1775-1800. Oil on Canvas

WHAT DO CASTA PAINTINGS SHOW?

Paintings suggest typical clothing for

different social classes

Miguel Cabrera, 15. De Mestizo y de India, Coyote, 1763.

Reveal details of architectural space and home life

Present meticulous depictions of everyday objects, native flora and fauna, and foodstuffs

Vicente AlbánNoble Woman with Her

Black Slave (Sra. principal con su

negra esclava)Quito, Ecuador

1783

Vicente Albán Indian Woman in Special Attire (India en traje de gala)second half of 18th century)

Quito, Ecuador

Because the majority of Casta Paintings still in existence were found in Spain rather than Mexico, it has also been suggested that these were meant as souvenirs

These may have been mementos that captured the newness of the “New World”, showing native plants and diverse peoples of the region

SOUVENIRS OF THE “NEW WORLD”

PARISH RECORDS

Casta labels were more commonly used in parish records, therefore such theories exist that it was priests who identified and categorized people racially

It is known that these works preceded the creation of the caste system and their illustrations are perhaps made to accompany this system. They would then be visual markers used to help parish members in identifying their congregation, especially in baptismal records.

MAINTAINING SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTROL IN COLONIAL NEW SPAIN

Although the use and purpose for production of

Casta Paintings remains uncertain, these generally

suggest the fascination with race and limpieza de

sangre (purity of blood) that characterized colonial

mentalities. Spaniards used their elaborate system

of classification to maintain social and political

control, allowing the “pureblooded” to hold the

top position in colonial society.

Notice the mountain-shaped virgin which,

unlike representations elsewhere, were

very common in Andean religious art of

the Spanish Empire.

This is because mountains were sacred to

the Quechua and other people from the

Andes (they were considered to be gods,

apus), and thus an effective mechanism to

evangelize the local population.

Annymous. The Virgin of the Pilgrims and Child. 18th Century.

CUZCO SCHOOL

The tradition originated after the 1534

Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, and

it is considered the first artistic center

that systematically taught European

artistic techniques in the Americas.

The Cusqueña paintings were a form of

religious art whose main purpose was

didactic.[1] The Spanish, who aimed to

convert the Incas to Catholicism, sent a

group of religious artists to Cusco.[1]

These artists formed a school for Quechua

people and mestizos, teaching them

drawing and oil painting

STYLE

Cusqueña paintings are characterized by

their use of exclusively religious subjects,

their lack of perspective, and the

predominance of red, yellow and earth

colors.[1] They are also remarkable for their

lavish use of gold leaf,[6] especially with

images of the Virgin Mary. Though the

Cusqueño painters were familiar with

prints of Byzantine, Flemish and Italian

Renaissance art, their works were freer

than those of their European tutors; they

used bright colors and distorted, dramatic

images. They often adapted the topics to

depict their native flora and fauna as a

backdrop in their works.[1]

Warrior angels became a popular motif in

Cusqueña paintings.[2]

Most Cusqueña paintings were created

anonymously because of Pre-Columbian

traditions that define art as communal

The belief in the god Viracocaha, who

created, the entire universe, was easily

incorporated into the idea of God the

Father in Christian doctrine.

Since it was believed that only the name,

not the concept, was wrong, the insertion

of the Indian deity into a Christian

framework did not a pose a problem.

LUIS NIÑOTHE VIRGIN MARY OF THE CERRO RICO OF POTOSÍ, PERU 18TH CENTURYOIL ON CANVASAnother substitution is of the Virgin Mary

for the Andean earth mother goddess

Pachamama.

Typical are vibrantly colored and intricate

detailed paintings of the Madonna, often

shown with a wide triangular gown, whose

profile has been related to the symbol of

Pachamama: a mountain.

Her clothing is covered with a lavish, lace-

like pattern of gold tooling, which also

incorporates an image of the new moon

below.

When the viewer links this moon to the

vertical lines above it, the resulting form

takes on the profile of an Inca ceremonial

knife (tumi).

LA VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE Location: Tepeyac Hill, Mexico City

Date: December 12, 1531

4 apparitions to Juan Diego, a Indian native

December 9, 1531, a native American peasant named Juan Diego saw a vision of a maiden at a place called the Hill of Tepeyac, which would become part of Villa de Guadalupe, a suburb of Mexico City. Speaking to him in his native Nahuatl language, the maiden identified herself as the Virgin Mary, "mother of the very true deity" and asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor.

Following the Conquest in 1519–21, the Spanish destroyed a temple of the mother goddess Tonantzin at Tepeyac outside Mexico City, and built a chapel dedicated to the Virgin on the site. Newly converted Indians continued to come from afar to worship there, often addressing the Virgin Mary as Tonantzin

Miguel GonzálezVirgen de Guadalupe1698, Mexico CityOil on Canvas on Wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl (enconchado)(on display at LACMA)

• The Virgin placed atop an eagle perched on a cactus, Mexico City’s legendary coat of arms.

• This is a significant detail that points to the rapid Creolization of the cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the second half of the seventeenth century, and her increasing association with a local sense of identity.

• This technique is known as enconchado and exists solely in Mexico.

• Enonchados were inspired by imported furniture from China, India and Japan.

José Juárez, The Virgin of Guadalupe with Apparitions, Spain. 1656 Oil on Canvas

* Juan Diego is the first indigenous Catholic saint of the Americas

No single image had a greater impact on the history of Mexican art than that of the Virgin de Guadalupe

Virgin of Guadalupe serves as a pure intercessor between man and God, and a symbol of maternal love and fertility

Copy of Juan Diego’s tilmafrom1531

Early Representations

Diego Garrido

1622

Print

Baltasar de Echave Orio

1606

Oil on Canvas

José Ribera y ArgomanisThe Virgin of Guadalupe 1778, oil on canvas

• The familiar apparition is compressed and attention is given to the two Indians that flank the Virgin.

• Juan Diego (left) offers the Virgin roses, representing the devotion of indigenous converts

• A feather-covered Indian (right) symbolizes the unconverted nomadic Indians of the northern frontier.

• The Virgin hovers above an eagle perched on a cactus, the symbol of Mexico City, equally confirming her spiritual and juridical authority over the colony and by implication the special status of those who lived there.