Colonial Identity Rhetorics Summary

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In the book The Art of Professing in Bourbon Mexico, specifically chapter 6 titled: Colonial Identity Rhetorics, author James M. Córdova explains the impact that visual art had on the people of a blended society in which combined Euro- Christians and the indigenous mesoamericans of Mexico. During the eighteenth century, Mexico was under Spanish ruling and was called New Spain. Spanish monarch forced the indigenous people of mesoamerica to worship their God and follow their religion of christianity. As both cultures fused together, there was a hierarchy of importance based on race. Those on top were referred to as Peninsulares who were Spaniards born in Spain; after that were Creoles, those who were born in New Spain of Spanish parents. Towards …show more content…
He uses paintings like An Allegory of America Nursing Foreigners by an anonymous artist, Virgin of Guadalupe by Sebstián Salcedo, Del Español, y la Yndia nace el Mestizo, or lo común, humilde, quieto, y sensillo by José Joaquín Magón, The Preaching of Saint Thomas in Tlaxcala and the Introduction of Veneration of the Holy Cross by Juan Manuel Yllanes del Huerto, Madre María de San José by Francisco Sylverio, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz by Miguel Cabrera, and Sor María Francisca Josefa de San Felipe Neri by Anonymous to support his claim. For the purpose of this essay, I will be only focusing on An Allegory of America Nursing Foreigners and Virgin of Guadalupe by Sebastián …show more content…
Córdova makes a convincing argument based on the artworks during Mexican/Spanish colonial time period. I specifically choice to talk about An Allegory of America Nursing Foreigners and Virgin of Guadalupe because both exhibit the larger history and art of Mexico. These two painting show both side of significance it had on the people of the Spanish conquest. An Allegory of America Nursing Foreigners exposes the dark side of the indigenous people dying and suffering as a consequence of the invasion of Spanish colonials. While on the other hand, the Virgin of Guadalupe shows us a much more tranquil transition between Aztec ruling to christianity. What ultimately happened from the conquest is a tragedy to the native population, but I believe the inscription in Tlatelolco Plaza beautifully puts it as “Neither a victory nor a defeat, but the painful birth of a new

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