“The Wound on Christ’s Back in New Spain,” RACAR (Revue d’art canadienne/Canadian Art Review), XXXII, 1-2, 2007, pp. 79-93. (original) (raw)
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Religion and the Arts, 2009
The colonial art of New Spain/Mexico provides the viewer with a locus of examination into the robust Christianity that emerged over time out of a native spirituality newly laden with the contours and images from the Old World theology of late medieval/early Catholic Reformation Spain. Franciscan and especially Jesuit missionaries, impelled by a devotional zealotry, championed an apocalyptic vision of hope and suffering that was well suited for artistic expression. Religious art, whether or not patronized by European colonizers, became an instrument for the missionaries to teach and for the native artists to interrogate religious doctrine, and some artists, consciously or not, created their art as a response to that catechesis, a subtle fusion of ancient passion with the dramatic intensity of the new Catholic faith. One array of images in particular, that of the dolorous Passion of the Christ, was especially vibrant in the imaginations of the native artists and in the contemplation o...
The sacred made real: Spanish painting and sculpture, 1600-1700
Choice Reviews Online
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PASSION AND POWER: A PUPPET-SCULPTURE OF JESUS THE NAZARENE IN ZACATECAS, MEXICO
2021
This study examines an exceptional articulated sculpture made toward the end of the XVIII century and found in the mining town of Zacatecas, Mexico. The life-size sculpture in question is in reality a liturgical puppet of Jesus Christ that dramatically performs during Holy Week. The image is here studied within the larger context of medieval puppets, the Church's liturgy, mystery plays, early automata and modern psycho-social theories. The sculpture appears to continue a pre-Columbian attitude towards puppets as ixiptla or actor-impersonators. The novelty of the research is in the discovery of the mechanism for making this actor "perform" during one of the most dramatic moments of the Passion. Keywords: Mexico, art, puppets, Holy Week, Semana Santa
Hispanic Research Journal, 2021
Abstract: This article examines the migration of artistic theory from Europe to Spanish America in the early modern period and, more specifically, on the way in which these ideas served to fashion the role of artists in colonial society. In the seventeenth century, Counterreformation ideas about the devout painter entered hagiographies written in Lima, Quito, and Santa Fe, which praised the artistic skill of religious artists as visible manifestation of their piety. As exemplars of Christian virtue, these artists stood as the spiritual capital of Spanish American cities and, thus, were instrumental in the shaping of local pride and identities. Tridentine artistic theory acquired a new meaning in colonial Spanish America, in the sense that it legitimized a view of Spanish American urban communities as Christian corporations. The figure of the Christian painter was particularly important in Jesuit narratives written in Spanish America, since it grounded the order’s ideas regarding the moral end of pictures and of artists. Resumen: Este artículo examina la migración de la teoría artística de Europa a Hispanoamérica durante la modernidad temprana, y su apropiación por parte de actores locales al momento de definir el papel del artista en la sociedad colonial. En el siglo XVII, el ideal contrarreformista del pintor de imágenes sagradas, virtuoso y piadoso, se hizo presente en la tradición hagiográfica de Lima, Quito y Santa Fe, la que celebraba la habilidad de los artistas religiosos como manifestación de su piedad. Como ejemplos de virtud cristiana, estos artistas incrementaban el capital espiritual de las ciudades hispanoamericanas y como tal eran la base de la identidad y orgullo locales. La teoría artística de la Contrarreforma adquirió un nuevo significado en Hispanoamérica, en el sentido de que sirvió para evidenciar tanto el éxito del proyecto misionero como de una visión ideal y cristiana de las comunidades urbanas. La figura del pintor cristiano tuvo una singular importancia en narrativas jesuitas hispanoamericanas, puesto que fundamentó las ideas de la orden sobre el propósito moral de las imágenes y de los artistas.