Latin American Art And Architecture Exam 1

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- an Aztec codex,

- Created?
o 20 yrs after Spanish Conquest of Mexico
− Contains?
o History of Aztec rulers & their conquests
o List of tribute paid by conquered
o Description of daily Aztec life
• In traditional Aztec pictograms w/ Spanish explanations & commentary
− Named?
o After Don Antonio de Mendoza (viceroy of Spain) who commissioned it
o Also known as Codex Mendocino and La Coleccion Medoza
− Closely examined?
o Work of visual art
o Reveals equally important stories

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Pedro De Gante

− Influential?
o Education
o The arts
− School?
o San Jose de los Naturales (chapel) site
o Founded by Pedro de Gante
o Aztec boys taught manual arts & crafts
• Shoemaking
• Embroidery
• Plasterwork
• Carpentry
• Practical skills

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Amantica (Feather Artists): Feather Mosaics
− Use?
o Tropical bird feathers used for major ceremonial paraphernalia
o Highly prized art forms
o Few survived, Headdress of Moctezuma popular
− Restraints?
o To create new images for the new religion
− Process?
o sewed & tied feathers
o hardened them with paste
o trimmed and glued into a pattern
o sketched on paper or religious print
− Surviving Examples?
o Finely detailed bishops’ miters with biblical scenes
o Portable altars
o Images of jesus and other holy figures
− Luxury Examples?
o Protected in trunks in European churches & castles
o To preserve brilliant colors
o Mass of St. Gregory example

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• THE CHRIST OF TELDE
• - Pasta Cana sculpture
− Technique?
o Paste made from corn stalks
o Wood is inserted in center for strength
o Layers of corn stalks are built up
o Dried and painted
o Developed by indigenous people before Spanish
− Early Christian method?
o Cornstalks and paper covered with plaster
o Plaster made from heart of cornstalk, certain orchids, fiber, and glue
o Gessoed and painted
− Figures?
o Jesus and other saints
o Exported to Spain
o Donated to churches and coveted in religious processions
o Weighed less than 50lbs
o More portable than wooden sculptures

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• Date Stone carved for the Façade of the church of Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion Eagle Warrior with Diadem, 1591:
− Alternate name?
o Indo-Christian
o Tequitqui (Aztec for tribute)
− Meaning?
o Glyph emerging from eagle’s mouth (scream)
• Scream – aztec hieroglyph for atl-tlachionollu (warfare)
• Separate signs for fire and water
• Opposites – blood and warfare
• Eagle earing royal diadem of Emperor
o Dates
• Related to completion of the building
• Written in both Nahuati & Spanish
− Examples?
o Stone relief
• On façade of Franciscan church
• in Tecamachalco
• made in 16th century

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• Church of San Agustin, Acolman (Mexico), facade completed 1560− Displays?
o Food & Ornamental garlands on portals of churches
o Symbolized spiritual feast provided by new religion
o Recalled ritual offerings
− Reveals?
o Sophisticated understanding of classical forms
− Entrance?
o Delicate triumphal arch
o Carved renditions of fruits and plates of food on curving bands above doorway
o Niches contain
• Statues of st. peter and paul
• Surrounded by further classical citations
• Fluted half-columns
• Garlands
• friezes
− Style?
o “a lo romano”
o Plateresque
• Resembled ornamental Spanish silver work of the period
− Design?
o By Spanish architect Claudio de Arciniega
o Assertion of up-to-date Renaissance sophisticating in Reborn world
− Cacique?
o To designate indigenous rulers (Dons)
o Important in construction of new building
− Begun / Finished?
o Begun by the Order of St. Augustine 1539
o Finished Plateresque façade 1560
• Using Indian labor and stones from temple of Quetzalcoatl

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• Cathedral of Tlaxcala artesonado ceiling. Tlaxcala, Mexico.
− Influenced?
o Alhambra
− Ceiling?
o Building completed in 1564
o Ceiling completed later in early 17th
o Early years
• Remainder of roof was wooden, covered in thatch
• Initial roofs were burned / replaced
− Church?
o Originally dedicated to San Fransciso
o Rededicated to the Virgin
− Rendered?
o In resistant cedar, technique known as carpinteria de lo blanco
• Puzzle-like assemblage of parts without using nails
− Legacy?
o Strongest visual reminders of impact of Moorish culture in New Spain

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Alhambra artesonados. Wood and Gold. Granada, Spain.

− Influenced?
o Design by Cathedral of Tlaxcala artesonado ceiling

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Simon Pereyns, Andres de Concho, Pedro de Requena

Retablo Huejotzingo

St. Michael (San Miguel), 1584-88, Huejotzingo, Puebla

− Retablo?
o Architectural, painterly & sculptural altarpiece structure that sits behind the altar in the Catholic church
o Large wooden altarpieces
− Placed?
o Alongside the nave and in the apse of Mexican churches
− Earliest?
o Closely followed Renaissance canons
• Clearly delineated tiers or stories
• Marked horizontally by entablatures
• Vertically by columns
• Topped with pediment containing image of God
− Represented?
o Major expenditures at time when sculptures were more valuable than paintings
− Created?
o Members of the painters, gliders, and sculptors’ guilds in Mexico city workshop
− Completed?
o Shipped off to be assembled in situ
o Construction sometimes overseen by architects
− Replaced?
o Style changed, retablos replaced
o Only 3 renaissance retablos remain
• Cuauhtinchan, Huejotzingo, and Xochilmico
o Massive shimmer construction
o Chief visual carriers of spiritual information
o Subject matter carefully controlled and standardized

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Fray Diego Valadés ( Tlaxcala , 1533 -
1582 )

− Fray Diego Valades
o Franciscan
o Historian
o Linguist
o From new spain
o Draftsman
o printmaker
− Most important work
o Rhetorica Christiana
o Theological work written in Latin
o Published in 1579
o First book published in Europe by Mexican born

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North and East faces of the San Miguel Posa Chapel, Mission Church of San Andrés Calpan, c. 1550.

− Traced?
o Image of last judgement traced to 1489 German woodcut in Nuremburg chronicles
o Reproduced in many books
o Papal tiera on roof refers to St. Peter

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THE OPEN CHAPEL
Church of San Juan Bautista: Teposcalula, Oaxica, Mexico
− Built by Dominicans in the 16th century
− Open chapel considered largest in Western Hemisphere
− Main altarpiece is neoclassical
− Finished in gold

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− Financed altarpiece because of Teposcolula’s prosperity
− By Pereyns and Concha
− Elegant open chapel
− Central Altar surmounted by a complex, yet elegant hexagonal vault
− Supported by prominent buttresses spread apart of facilitate sightlines of worshipers
− Ornate renaissance sculpture
− Sophistication of cacique patrons far from Mexico City

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THE OPEN CHAPEL
Capilla Real: Cholula, Puebla State
− Built 1540-75
− Part of the Convent of San Gabriel Complex
− Huge square chapel with 49 domes
− Showing traces of Spanish Moorish style
− Build to preach to masses of native converts

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− Built on the site of a pre-Hispanic temple & plaza
− Originally covered with nine long barrel vaults
− Ambitious engineering experiment failed when they collapsed
− Current roof (consists of 49 domes) dates to 17th & 18th centuries
− Influenced by
o Treatise by the Italian Mannerist architect Sebastiano Serlio
o Seven-nave interior of San Jose de los Naturales in Mexico City
o Hypostyle mosques of Southern Spain (Mezquita in Cordoba)
− Front originally left open
− Reached out conceptually to enormous Indian congregation that didn’t fit in main church.

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Doctors and Saints: Murals of the stairwell. Convent of San Nicholas, Actopan, Hidalgo. 1574
− At Actopan
− Life-size portraits of the Doctors of the Church
− Also, Saints associated with Augustinian order
− Stacked up the stairwell

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Peninsulare with wife and children; the children are Creoles
− Terms:
− Secular clergy: a major source of art patronage as in Europe
− Peninsulares: Permanent resident colonists, Iberian or Spanish born class ranked above that of the criollo
− Criollos: or “creole” people were a social class in the caste system of the overseas colonies established by Spain in the 16th century, especially in Latin America, comprising the locally born people of pure Spanish ancestry, with higher status/rank than all other castes – people of mixed descent, Amerindians, and enslaved Africans
− Criollismo: Local Pride

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Mannerist Façade: Casa de Moteja Merida: Yucatan, 1549
Resembles lost structures in Mexico City
− Extraordinary Building
− Facing the zocalo in Merida
− Acknowledged to be the finest civil example of the Spanish Plateresque style in Mexico or the New World
− Dated 1549 by inscription
− Palace built by Francisco de Montejo the Younger
o Son of Adelantado Montejo
• Conqueror of Yucatan
− Classicizing relief decorations
o Include possible portrait busts of the first owner and his wife
o Mythical creatures
o Quirky animals
− Montejo coat of arms
o Above the window
o Flanked by gigantic statues of Spanish halberdiers
• Tower above hairy wild men wielding rustic clubs
• Symbols of uncivilized or pagan forces
• Evoke the ongoing

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Important mural found inside the Casa del Dean in Puebla
Triumph of Love, 1590
− Room believed to be Don Tomas’s bedroom
− Murals were supposedly constant reminders of his mortality – Vica Amuchastegui

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− Narrate humanity’s victories over earthly passions
− Hidden for centuries, murals were rediscovered in 1953
− Derived from a series of Flemish prints by Maarten van Heemskerck from 1565
− Suite of allegorical chariots drawn by horses, deer or unicorns
− Represents the victories of Time, Death, Love, Chastity and Fame (The sixth Triumph, Faith, was not included or does not survive)
− Public testimony to the patron’s sophisticated classical learning and humanism, despite church’s censorship
− Don’t know the painters of murals, but borders reveal evidence of indigenous hand
− Specifically in the speech scrolls and native animals associated with pre-Hispanic vices and virtues

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Important mural found inside the Casa del Dean in Puebla
La Sala de los Triunfos (narrates “The Triumphs,”
− A poem written by Italian humanist Petrach
− In 1532
− Banned from the church in 1575
− Murals depict the nature of human life
− Proving weakness in matters of love, chastity, time, death, and face (or divinity)

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The Council of Trent
− Held between 1545 and 1563
− In Trento (Trent) and Bologna, northern Italy
− Prompted by the Protestant Reformation
− Embodiment of the Counter-Reformation
− Council issued condemnations of what it defined to be heresies committed by Protestantism

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Late 16th and early 17th Century Spanish Colonial Painting Influenced by:

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− Church Patronage
− Prints from Europe
− Seville Style of Painting
− The Counter Reformation
− The Council of Trent
− Guild System
− Zuberon
− Peter Paul Rubens

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Alonzo Vasquez (1565 – 1608)

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− brought Seville style & influence to Spain in 1603

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Three European born and educated immigrants dominated painting in the Late 16th Century

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− Practicing a Reformed Mannerism
− Simon Pereyns (Flemish) – arrived 1566
− Andres de Concha (Sevilian) – arrived 1568
− Baltasar de Enchave Orio (Basque) – arrived 1558

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The Vision of Saint Francis at the Porziuncola: Baltasar de Echave Orio, 1609.
− Saint Francis had a vision of Jesus and Mary at the Porziuncola
o A small church outside Assisi, Italy
− Granted his request that those who entered the Porziuncola be pardoned of their sins
− Story was disseminated during the Counter-Reformation
o To undermine Protestant attacks on the granting of indulgences.

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Saint Christopher with the Christ Child, Simon Pereyns, 1588; Mexico City Cathedral
− Saint Christopher was of particular interest to the Spanish
− Spanish saw their laborious efforts to carry Christianity across the Atlantic reflected In the story of this giant who carried the infant Jesus across a river
− Earliest dated paintings of New Spain
− Monumental frescoed representations of St. Christopher appeared in many early churches
o Tlatelolco
o Xochilmilco
o Tanhuitlan
− Guild of Painters
o Established in 1557
o First Mexican colonial painters were immigrants
o Native born artists continued indigenous practices of Mural and manuscript paintings
o Did not develop European practices of oil and tempera paintings like immigrants

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− Simon Pereyns
o Fascinating figure
o Trained in Antwerp and moved to Europe before going to Mexico in 1566
o In the entourage of the new viceroy Gaston de Peralta, first of serveral pintores de camara
o Decorated the Real Palacio with battle scenes
o Hauled before the Inquisition on a charge of heresy (jealous competitor)
o Managed to defend his activities

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Saint Cecilia by Andres de la Concha, Mexico City
− Andres de la Concha
o Spanish painter
o Considered one of the best painters of the viceroyalty of New Spain
o Born in Seville
o Came to the New World in 1568
o Active painter from 1575 to 1612
o Work preserved in several Mexican cathedrals
• Including the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

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Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata: Alonso Lopez de Herrera
− Alonso Lopez de Herrera
o Mexican painter
o 1610- entered the Dominican Order
o Work characterized by warm tones seamlessly into drawing
o Provincial expression of Counter Reformation ideals

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The Incredulity of Saint Thomas; Sebastian Lopez de Arteaga; 1643
− Sebastian Lopez de Arteaga
o Spanish Baroque painter
o Trained alongside Zurbaran in the 1620s
o Style introduced in Mexico around 1640
o Style of chiascurro, reminiscent of Caravaggio

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− Incredulity of St. Thomas
o Depicts the saint gently touching the wound in Jesus’s side
o The other apostles look on
o Dramatic lighting effects seem directly inspired by the tenebrism of Caravaggio
• Depicted the same theme in 1600-1601
o Lopez’s is less naturalistic and more eclectic
o Drawing a variety of Sevillian sources
o Found little market for the innovations in New Spain
o Quickly abandoned tenebrism for more color and bright style
o Forced to adjust his work to appeal to his Mexican patrons

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Puebla Cathedral, Puebla, Mexico 1575 – 1690; Francisco Becerra

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Mexico City Cathedral, 1573 – 1817; Claudio de Arcineiga
− Metropolitan Tabernacle to the right
− Named the seat of the archbishop in 1546
− Attained the status of “Metropolitan Cathedral”
− Sculptural relief in the center of the façade shows its patron: The Virgin of the Assumption

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Juan Correa; The Miracle of the Wedding at Cana; 1689
− Juan Correa
o 1646-1716
o Mexican painter of mixed Moorish or African, Indian, and Spanish heritage
o Contemporaries:
• Miguel Cabrera
• Cristobal de Villalpando
o All important examples of 18th century Mexican Baroque painting

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− The Miracle of the Wedding at Cana
o Depicting the story from the book of John
o A Steward, wearing green, tastes water drawn from the well in the background
o Finds it instead to be the finest wine
o A reminder of Jesus’s miraculous powers
o Testified to its wealthy owner’s hospitality

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Enconchado; “Farewell of the Virgin and Joseph to the Virgin’s Parents,” Mexico, 17th century
− Enconchado
o Oil paint
o Varnish
o Inlay of shell on wood
o Carved
o Painted
o Glided wood frame
o Technique used in fine furniture of the period

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− Luxurious display objects produced in New Spain and Peru
− Inspired by imported furniture and decorative arts inlaid with mother of pearl
− As in individual works or parts of series
− Represent religious and historical scenes
− Shell inlay generally used for bodies
− Faces and other fine details are rendered in oil pain
− Primarily destined for the viceroys or other high functionaries
− Either as welcoming or departing gifts