Colonial Andean Portraiture Notes Mod 9 done

Portraiture as a Tool
- Served as an important artistic genre for wealthy elites to assert power and legitimacy in the Viceroyalty of Peru.
- Transmits information about clothing, jewelry, and accessories.
Visual Documents
- Portraits functioned as visual "documents" employed to commemorate political deeds.

Artist: Andrés Sanchez Gallque
Significance: First signed and dated canvas in South America.
Depicts: Three men of indigenous and African descent.
- Don Francisco (center), cacique of Esmeraldas.
- Don Pedro (left), son of Don Francisco.
- Don Domingo (right), son of Don Francisco.
Clothing and Accessories:
- Stiff ruff collars and sleeves (lechuguillos) in Spanish and Flemish styles.
- Andean uncus (tunics) made from imported silk.
- Necklaces from shells found along the coast of Ecuador.
- Gold earrings and nose rings from Colombian mines.
Global Material Aesthetic: Embodies a global aesthetic made possible by Spanish colonialism.
Visual Communication: Men appear larger than life with open stances and steel-tipped spears, communicating power and authority.
Historical Context:
- Don Francisco submitted to Spanish authorities in 1597.
- The portrait was commissioned by Juan de Berrio as a gift to King Philip III to commemorate the subjugation of Esmeraldas.
- Reveals tensions of power; Don Francisco and his sons assert colonial authority while being subjected to it.

Purpose: To promote alliances between Spanish and indigenous elites.
Example: Marriage of Martin de Loyola with the Ñusta Beatriz and of Don Juan de Borja with Doña Lorenza Ñusta de Loyola (c. 1680).
- Hangs in La Compañía Jesuit church in Cuzco.
- Commemorates two marriages between Inka-descended women and prominent members of the Jesuit order.
Figures Depicted:
- St. Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuit order).
- St. Francis Borgia (holds a human skull).
- Martín de Loyola (nephew of St. Ignatius) marrying Beatriz Coya (descendant of Inka ruler Huayna Capac).
- Count Juan Enríquez de Borja y Almanza (grandson of St. Francis Borgia) marrying the daughter of Martín de Loyola and Ñusta Beatriz.
Symbolism:
- The painting is not a realistic portrayal but demonstrates the mixture of Spanish and Inka elite blood into perpetuity.
- Locales of Cuzco and Madrid depicted in the backgrounds.

Purpose: To solidify links between Inka and Spanish aristocracy.
Example: Effigies of the Inkas or Kings of Peru (c. 1725).
- Depicts portraits of Inka kings from Sinchi Roca to Atahualpa.
- Followed by portraits of Spanish monarchs from King Charles V to Ferdinand VI.
- Portraits of Manco Capac and Mama Huaco (mythical founders of the Inka empire) at the top left and right.
- Textual glosses identify each king.
- Portrait of Christ at the top center holding an olive branch, sword, and cross.
Compositional Triangulation: Christ at the apex of a hierarchy of rulership.
Paradox: Inka kings are positioned closest to Jesus rather than their Spanish successors.
Visual Readings:
- Tripartite spatial scheme with Christ and the Inkas occupying the "celestial" plane.
- Linear time, from left to right and top to bottom, implying a narrative of progress culminating in Spanish power.

Lima's Significance:
- Founded in 1535 by Pizarro.
- Assigned as the capital of the viceroyalty due to accessibility and proximity to trade routes.
- Cuzco's high altitude and isolation deemed an obstacle.
Artistic Centers: Lima, Cuzco, Arequipa, Quito, La Paz, and Potosí.
Role of Art and Architecture: To ensure inhabitants were devout Catholics and loyal subjects of the Spanish crown.
Subversion: Visual arts also challenged and subverted Spanish colonial interests.
Cultural Combination: The arts of colonial Peru are a combination of pre-Columbian and European influences.

Purpose: Commissioned by elite criollos (people born in the Americas, but of Spanish lineage) for display within private residences.
Example: Portrait of Doña Mariana Belsunse y Salasar (c. 1780), attributed to Pedro José Diaz.
- Depicts a wealthy member of Lima society.
- Belsunse y Salasar requested a one-year grace period before consummating her marriage and spent the year as a nun.
- After her husband's death she remarried.
Visual Details:
- Confident woman in a three-quarter pose with direct eye contact.
- Finely detailed blue silk dress with lace sleeves reflecting European fashions.
- Arched doorway looking out onto a tree-lined walkway with a fountain, representing a park donated to the city of Lima.
- Fan held in the right hand to connote modesty.
- Silver objects and jewelry emphasize access to luxury goods.
Representation of Wealth: "Performing" wealth through attire and possessions.
Focus on the Present: Unlike Effigies of the Inkas or Kings of Peru, it remains firmly rooted in the present.

Criollo Aspirations: Members of the criollo elite desired a future sovereign nation-state independent of Spain.
Contemporaneous Rebellions:
- Tupac Katari Rebellion (1777-1780) in Alto Peru (present-day Bolivia).
- Tupac Amaru Rebellion (1780-1783) sought to overthrow Spanish colonial rule and institute an indigenous power structure.
Causes of Conflict: Increased economic burdens on indigenous peasant communities.
Social Divisions: Natives against Spaniards, mestizos against criollos, and divisions within native Andean communities.
Aftermath of Rebellions:
- Approximately 100,000 deaths, mostly indigenous.
- Exerted a cataclysmic impact on the colonial power structure.
- Did not directly lead to independence.
South American Independence: Movements in the 1820s were dominated by criollos who resented their secondary status to peninsulares.
Legacy of Colonial Art: Left a longstanding legacy on the modern and contemporary arts of the Andes.
- Portraits of South America's liberators retain the same preference for flatness and poses found in eighteenth-century colonial portraits.