review of Sculpture in the Kingdom of Quito (original) (raw)
1991
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Abstract
A review of colonial sculpture in what is now Ecuador by Gabrielle G. Palmer.
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Two Portuguese polychrome terracotta ensembles of the Baroque era, composed of full-sized sculptures, were studied to discover their construction. By comparing the results obtained by their examination and analysis with existing documentary sources, it was verified that each sculpture was made following the same process. First, a cross-shaped armature is built up in clay to form the framework for the figure, which is then modelled before firing. This consists of winding coils of clay around the framework, as well as cutting horizontal and vertical sections from the main body. Statues could be fired four at a time in a temporary kiln constructed for this purpose at the monastery where they would be housed. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses tend to confirm that the clay used was a local material. For indoor and outdoor exposure, terracotta presented a durable cost effective option in comparison with other materials such as wood and stone. résumé Deux ensembles en terre cuite polychrome produits au Portugal à l'époque baroque, composés de sculptures grandeur nature, ont fait l'objet d'une recherche pour comprendre leur mise en oeuvre. En confrontant les sources existantes à leur sujet et les résultats obtenus lors d'examens et d'analyses de ces statues, il s'est avéré qu'elles ont toutes été élaborées suivant le même processus. La construction préalable d'une armature en argile à claire-voie en forme de croix, le modelage progressif des figures à partir de rangées de colombins et la découpe des statues en plusieurs tronçons horizontaux et verticaux représentaient les étapes les plus importan-
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Sculpting with the Sun: Phenomenology of Light in Architectural Sculpture at Chavín de Huántar, Peru
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Hispanic American Historical Review, 2018
Susan Verdi Webster’s deeply erudite Lettered Artists and the Languages of Empire studies the artistic culture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Quito while contributing to a wide range of current debates in early modern studies. As a model archivally grounded study of a single artistic center, it demonstrates that a global early modern art history can be written through a thorough examination of the local. It is in the local that blanketly imposed universal principles of governance, instruction, and mores were interpreted and adapted by the very people whose lives they were meant to structure. --Posted with permission from the author of the review.
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Andean Artists in Colonial Quito: The Case of Nicolas Pauca and Francisco Monga
The Monitor: Journal of International Studies, 2011
Between 1580 and 1680, the production of religious polychrome wood sculpture in Spain reached its zenith with distinctive styles developing in both Sevilla and Granada, among other cities. Through exportation, many of these images made their way to the Spanish colonies, promoting the development of schools of sculpture in the Americas— particularly in the city of Quito (Ecuador). The Franciscan School of San Andrés, founded in Quito in 1555, also contributed to the formation of the “Quito School” of sculpture by training Andean boys in the spiritual and manual arts. The first instructor at the school, fray Pedro Gocial, is recognized for introducing the arts of Europe to Quito. Thus, the Quito School was shaped by the style of imported Spanish works, immigrant Spanish artists, and trained Andean artists who possessed both familial and European-style instruction in a variety of artistic forms. Despite the historical evidence of their active, artistic existence, the native artists of Quito are often lumped together as an anonymous mass, and only a select few—to whom an overwhelmingly unrealistic quantity of work is attributed—are consistently recognized in the literature. Nonetheless, it appears that, from the early sixteenth century through the majority of the seventeenth century, native sculptors practiced their trade in Quito without an officially recognized guild system, which would have overseen and controlled professional practices. Although principally addressing architecture in this time frame, Susan V. Webster asserts that, “there was almost a complete lack of official recognition, control, and vigilance over the building trades, even when the city itself depended upon these professions for the construction of public works.” A visit to any of Quito’s many colonial churches makes it clear that vast quantities of art—particularly sculpture—were produced during these years. Who then produced this art? If historical evidence of Andean sculptors exists, why do these indigenous artists remain unrecognized? Will they ever be properly recognized?
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I would like to thank the staff at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts who helped to make this research possible. I would especially like to thank Karen Daly, Assistant Registrar; Caryl Burtner, Coordinator of Curatorial Administration; and Courtney Yevich, Assistant Fine Arts Librarian, who all took the time to answer my many questions and provide information. I would also like to express gratitude to Margaret Richardson in Photographic Resources who prepared the VMFA images. Many thanks are owed to my director, Dr. James Farmer, and reader, Dr. Michael Schreffler, both of whom provided advice, direction, and support throughout this process. I am grateful for all my family and fiiends who have supplied continuous encouragement, especially my mother and father who always support my ambitions. Most of all, I dedicate this thesis to my husband, whose patience, love, and encouragement kept me going and made all of this possible.
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Published in the conference proceedings "Destroy the Copy - Plaster Cast Collectionss in the 19th-20th Centuries. Demolition, Defacement, Disposal in Europe and Beyond", edited by Annetta Alexandridis and Lorenz Winkler-Horacek, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022, pp. 52-76 The plaster casts and other replicas of classical, early modern, and neoclassical sculptures that were brought from Europe to Santiago de Chile around 1900 initially constituted a vast collection of more than 550 pieces. The shipment included, among others, reproductions of famous classical and modern statues, reliefs, architectural ornaments, and decorative art. The collection was intended to inspire artists, to promote the development of the national art scene, and to offer the general public a pedagogical introduction to good taste. The construction of a new building for the Museum and Academy of Fine Arts in 1910 that was supposed to house the collection indicates its significance at the time. Nevertheless, today less than ten percent of those works remain in the museumthe rest are scattered among other institutions, were destroyed during earthquakes, stolen, or otherwise lost during the past century.
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