Chapter 18: Art of New Spain: Spanish Colonies in the Americas

Key Notes

• Time Period: c. 1500–1820
• Culture, beliefs, and physical settings
  • Baroque art can be found in New Spain.
  • Baroque art still has a basis on classical formulas, but also has an interest in dynamic compositions and theatricality.
• Cultural interactions
  • There are the beginnings of global commercial and artistic networks.
  • Art in New Spain shows a willingness to absorb European, Asian, and indigenous American influences.
  • Art in New Spain has a generally Catholic character similar to the art of southern Europe.
• Materials and Processes
  • The period is dominated by an experimentation of visual elements, i.e., atmospheric perspective, a bold use of color, creative compositions, and an illusion of naturalism.
• Audience, functions, and patron
  • There is a more pronounced identity and social status of the artist in society; the artist has more structured training opportunities.
• Theories and Interpretations
  • Baroque art is studied in chronological order and by geographic region.
  • There is a large body of primary source material housed in libraries and public institutions.
  • Traditional art history material favors European art; the art of New Spain is often sidelined.
  • This material is being presented here in a more comprehensive approach that highlights the interconnections between the Americas and Europe.

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Historical Background

• After the news that Columbus had landed in what is now the Bahamas in 1492, European nations quickly embarked on a conquest and colonization effort.
  • Spanish and Portuguese explorers conquered enormous swaths of territory in what is now known as Latin America.
  • The great Native American civilizations of the Aztecs and Inkas succumbed to the more technologically advanced and disease-carrying Europeans.
• Local populace, including artists, were forced to labor for their European masters in a short period of time.
  • Several Native Americans married within the established Spanish hierarchy, giving birth to mestizos.
  • Mestizo: someone of mixed European and Native American descent
• The Spanish took advantage of much of what the New World had to offer, including silver, gold, and new crops such as potatoes and corn.
  • They also developed a global commerce empire, with ships steadily sailing over the Pacific from Mexico to Asia.
  • These trips, known as the Manila Galleon, allowed commerce vessels to complete the four-month trek without interruption.
  • Even before they were available in the colonial United States, the Mexican market could claim Asian spices, ceramics, silks, ivory, and other valuable things.
  • The touch of East and West on a Native American population improved artistic life.
• Nonetheless, the stability in Europe during the Napoleonic wars emboldened Spain's colonies to pursue independence.
  • Spain's holdings were swiftly lost to talented generals such as Simón Bolivar and José de San Martín.
  • By 1822, the majority of Latin America had become a patchwork of independent governments; colonial rule had ended.

Patronage and Artistic Life

• The Spanish introduced the New World to Roman Catholicism, a faith rich in imagery. Religious benefactors funded a staggering number of high-quality religious works.
• Unlike English colonists, the Spaniards were not hesitant to employ indigenous artists.
• Modern Spanish works mix Roman Catholicism and Native American traditions in a pictorial landscape that frequently incorporates new materials from Asia.
• Likewise, English Protestants in what is now the United States focused on portraiture.
• Initially, the Spaniards carried late medieval aesthetic conventions with them, which were frequently blended with provincial Renaissance masterpieces.
• Soon after, efforts were undertaken to construct local schools inspired by the more contemporary Baroque design.
• Several Mexican photographs depict men dressed in the newest Madrid fashions to demonstrate their aristocratic sensibility.
• Cusco, Peru, became the first European art center in the Americas.
• Local Quechan and mestizo artists were taught the newly imported style by Spanish painters.
• Patrons were interested in portraits, as well as other topics popular in European painting at the time, such as historical paintings of war scenes and Arcadian landscapes.

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Painting in New Spain

• Religious painting from the colonial Spanish era is distinguished by a blend of Old and New World techniques.
• The oil technique and Catholic iconography were introduced to American painting by Spain.
• Native artists who worked within their own traditions were less interested in European painting formulae like perspective.
  • They preferred a flat surface with clay tones.
  • This is especially noticeable in the works of the Cusco School.
• Numerous works of art were created anonymously, in the service of religion rather than the artist's renown.
  • Because the style of a certain school is so tightly aligned now, it is often impossible to determine the artist's name.
• The Manila Galleon brought trade from Asia as well as new materials, therefore it is not uncommon to witness pieces of Latin American art that employ ivory, silk, or ceramics.

➼ Frontispiece of the Codex Mendoza

• Details

  • Viceroyalty of New Spain
  • c. 1541–1542
  • Made of ink and color on paper
  • Found in Bodleian Library, Oxford University

• Content

  • The main scene depicts the founding of Tenochtitlán; below is the conquest of Colhuacan and Tenayucan.
  • Aztecs were told to found their city at the spot where an eagle was perched on a cactus growing from a rock—today this is the symbol used on the Mexican flag.
  • An eagle landing on a cactus at the intersection of the two waterways commemorates the division of Tenochtitlán into four quarters.
  • Enemy temples are on fire; Aztec warriors carry clubs and shields.
  • Skulls represent sacrificial victims.
  • There is a small representation of the Templo Mayor above the eagle.

• Function

  • The book was intended as a history of the Aztecs for Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire—although he never received it.
  • Named after Antonio de Mendoza, viceroy of New Spain.
  • Viceroy: a person appointed to rule a country as the deputy of the sovereign

• Context

  • The book was created 20 years after the Spanish conquest.
  • The book depicts Aztec rulers and daily life in Mexico to a European audience.
  • The book uses glyphs created by Aztec artists that were later annotated in Spanish.

• Image

  

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➼ Angel with Arquebus (Asiel Timor Dei)

• Details

  • Master of Calamarca (La Paz School)
  • 17th century
  • Made of oil on canvas
  • Found in National Art Museum, La Paz, Bolivia

• Content

  • Latin inscription: Asiel, fear of God.
  • The angel is depicted with an arquebus (a form of rifle) instead of a traditional sword.
  • An arquebus is a state-of-the-art weapon brought by the Spanish to the New World.

• Form

  • The elongated hat with feathers is a feature of dress of Inkan nobility.
  • Indigenous people favored gold embroidered on fabrics.
  • Military poses are derived from European engravings of military exercises.
  • The drapery is of a seventeenth-century Spanish-American aristocrat; rich costuming.
  • The angel appears in an androgynous stance.
  • Mannerist influence in the stiffness of the figure and dance-like pose.

• Function: Probably one in a series of angel drummers, buglers, standard bearers, and holders of swords.

• Context

  • A relationship is expressed between this kind of image and the winged warriors of pre-Columbian art.
  • The work may have originated in the region around Lake Titicaca, in the Collao region of Peru.
  • The Master of Calamarca may have been José López de los Ríos, a Bolivian painter.
  • The feathered hat may reference Andean royalty.
  • Guns were symbols of power and dominance over native American peoples and their beliefs.
  • The painting is related to Spanish-American writings that allude to angels coming at the Last Judgment well-attired with feathered hats and carrying guns.

• Image

  

➼ Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and a hunting scene

• Details

  • Circle of the González family
  • 1697–1701
  • Made of tempera and resin on wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl
  • Found in Brooklyn Museum, New York

• Form

  • Only known example of an artwork that combines biombos and enconchados.
  • Biombos: folding freestanding screens
  • Enconchados: shell-inlay paintings; tiny fragments of mother-of-pearl placed onto a wooden support and canvas and covered with a yellowish tint and thin glazes of paint

• Function and Patronage

  • The screen was commissioned by José Sarmiento de Valladares, viceroy of New Spain.
  • Displayed in Viceregal Palace in Mexico City.
  • The screen was meant to divide a space into smaller areas; similar to Japanese screens in function.
  • Only half of the screen is illustrated in the official image set; the other half is in Mexico City.

• Context

  • Two faces of the screen: one has a hunting scene, and the other has a war scene (the Siege of Belgrade).
  • The hunting scene is suited to an intimate space for small receptions.
  • The hunting scene is based on tapestry designs for the Medici, a great family of art patrons in Renaissance Italy; the design is derived from prints exported from Europe.
  • The war scene is more suited for a grander room of political importance.
  • The war scene depicts the contemporary event of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699); a Dutch print was used for inspiration.
  • The war scene illustrates a scene of Hapsburg power.
  • Lacquer-style imported works from Japan influenced the decorative floral elements and the landscape motifs.

• Images

  

  

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➼ Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe)

• Details

  • By Miguel González
  • Based on original Virgin of Guadalupe
  • From Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City, 1698
  • Made of oil on canvas on wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl
  • Found in Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California

• Form

  • The Virgin Mary is surrounded by four roundels that tell the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
  • In the roundels there are depictions of her appearance to Juan Diego, and the moment the Virgin’s image is revealed on his tunic.

• Materials

  • Brocade on Virgin’s robes made of enconchados.
  • Enconchado paintings often include ornate frames inspired by Japanese Nanban lacquer work.
  • Enconchado paintings have a luminous and vibrant color patterning that enhance the other-worldly effect that this object represents.

• Context

  • The painting describes an event in which Mary appeared to Native Americans on a hill called Tepeyac, a shrine sacred to a pre-Columbian goddess.
  • In 1531 Mary ordered a Native American convert, Juan Diego, to tell the local archbishop to build a sanctuary on this site; Mary addressed Juan Diego in Nuhuatl, his native tongue.
  • Mary made the hilltop flower, and Juan Diego brought the flowers to the archbishop; Juan Diego’s cloth revealed the Virgin’s image.
  • The Virgin of Guadalupe is the most revered symbol in Mexico and the patroness of New Spain.
  • In Guadalupe images, Mary always stands on a crescent moon surrounded by sunrays with clouds behind her.
  • An eagle perched on a cactus at bottom center is a symbol of Mexico today.
  • Cf. Revelations 12:1: “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.”
  • Image was in demand: many made for export around New Spain.

• Image

  

➼ Spaniard and Indian Produce a Mestizo

• Details

  • Attributed to Juan Rodríguez Juárez
  • c. 1715
  • Made of oil on canvas
  • Found in Breamore House, Hampshire, United Kingdom

• Form

  • A Spanish gentleman married an indigenous woman and produced a mestizo, who is carried on the back of a servant.
  • Many Africans and Indians are rendered with Southern European features: slim noses, curly hair, almond-shaped eyes.

• Function

  • Spanish colonists commissioned these works to be sent abroad to show the caste system of the New World.
  • Not considered art objects but illustrations of ethnic groups.

• Context

  • Panel from the first known series of casta paintings; may not have been a completed set.
  • Casta paintings: paintings from New Spain showing people of mixed races
  • Spanish social hierarchy with the European ancestry at the top; sixteen different gradations on the social scale.
  • Spanish blood linked to civilizing forces; wearing lavish costumes.
  • Africans and Indians are rendered with respect; showing harmony and mixing of the classes.

• Image:

  

➼ Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

• Details

  • By Miguel Cabrera
  • 1750
  • Made oil on canvas
  • Found in Museo Nacional de Historia, Castillo de Chapultepec, Mexico

• Function

  • Many portraits survive, but all images derive from a now-lost self-portrait.
  • Painting was done for her admirers 55 years after Sor Juana Inés’s death.

• Content

  • Portrayed seated in her library surrounded by symbols of her faith and her learning.
  • She wears the habit of the religious order of the Hermits of Saint Jerome nuns of Mexico City; the habit includes the escudo—a framed vellum painting.
  • Painting may have been inspired by the image of Saint Jerome seated at a desk.
  • Escudo: a framed painting worn below the neck in a colonial Spanish painting

• Context

  • Sor Juana Inés (Sister Juana Agnes), a child prodigy (1651–1695).
  • She was a criollo woman who became a nun in 1669.
  • A feminist culture survived in Mexican convents, where privileged nuns could live in comfort with servants and households.
  • Sor Juana was a literary figure who wrote books that were widely read; she also wrote poetry and theatrical pieces, and maintained a great library.
  • Sor Juana was instrumental in giving girls an education in a male-­dominated world.

• Image

  

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Chapter 19: Rococo and Neoclassicism \n