VICTORY OVER AZTEC IDOLATRY: SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL BY LUIS JUÁREZ

By

MARCELA VARONA CARRILLO

A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

2015

1

© 2015 Marcela Varona Carrillo

2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I really appreciate the help I received from my thesis director Dr. Maya Stanfield-Mazzi.

I am grateful for her kindness, guidance, and patience. Her instruction encouraged me to conduct deeper research and to better understand the artwork I engaged. I am also deeply thankful for the other two members of my committee, Dr. Elizabeth Ross and Dr. Efraín Barradas, for their help, comments, and suggestions. And I want to express my sincere thanks to the staff of the School of

Art and Art History for the opportunity and support they have provided me.

I am greatly thankful for the entire staff of the Centennial Museum and Desert Gardens,

Special Collections at the UTEP Library, Dr. Max Grossman, Dr. Ronald Weber, Dr. Cheryl

Martin, Therese Bauer, and Anne Perry for their assistance. And a special thanks to the people who helped me in my research in City: Clara Bargellini, Abraham Villavicencio, Edén

Zárate, and Juan Pacheco.

I am infinitely grateful for my parents, Cristina Carrillo and Alfonso Varona, who have always supported me unconditionally in my studies. I thank my brother and sisters, as well as the rest of my family for supporting me in my decisions. In the same way, I appreciate the help and support of all my friends who, in different ways, have encouraged, supported, and helped me during this journey.

To each and every one of you, my deepest thanks.

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS

page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... 3

LIST OF FIGURES ...... 6

ABSTRACT ...... 8

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION ...... 9

2 SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL BY LUIS JUÁREZ ...... 11

Luis Juárez ...... 11 Description of San Miguel Arcángel ...... 12 Style ...... 15 Attribution ...... 20 Location ...... 23 and Convent of Jesús María ...... 23 Academia de San Carlos ...... 29 Pinacoteca Virreinal de San Diego ...... 31 (MUNAL) ...... 33

3 THE OLD WORLD ...... 37

The Apocalypse ...... 37 in Europe ...... 38 Michael in the Scene of the Apocalypse ...... 38 Significance and Iconography ...... 41 The in Europe ...... 48 Iconography ...... 50 Anti-superstition Treatises ...... 53 Idolatry ...... 55 Idols and Idolaters ...... 57

4 THE NEW WORLD ...... 66

The Spanish Conquest ...... 66 The Aztecs ...... 67 The Impact of Spanish Colonization and the Demonization of the Aztec Deities ...... 73 The Inquisition in Colonial Mexico ...... 77 Scenes of the Apocalypse in the New World ...... 79 Saint Michael in New Spain ...... 85 Significance ...... 85 Iconography ...... 86

4 The Devil in New Spain ...... 90 European Background ...... 90 Representation of the Aztec ...... 90 Interpretation of San Miguel Arcángel by Luis Juárez ...... 95 The Archangel Michael as a Spanish Conqueror ...... 95 The Devil as an Aztec ...... 98

LIST OF REFERENCES ...... 106

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...... 113

5 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure page

2-1 Luis Juárez, San Miguel Arcángel, c. 1615. Oil on wood, 172 x 153 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL), ...... 35

2-2 Jan Brueghel the Elder, A Flemish Fair, 1600. Oil on copper, 47.6 x 68.6 cm. Trust, United Kingdom...... 35

2-3 Luis Juárez, The , c. 1620-35. Oil on canvas, 83 x 57 inches (215.8 x 144.8 cm). The Davenport Museum of Art, Iowa...... 36

2-4 Luis Juárez, El ángel de la guarda, c. 1615. Oil on wood, 173.5 x 149.5 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City...... 36

3-1 Detail of . Norman, c. 1320. From The Apocalypse. Color, gold, silver, and brown ink on vellum, 12 1/8 x 9 inches (30.7 x 23 cm) overall. The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Cloisters Collection. New York...... 60

3-2 Master of Castelsardo, The Archangel Michael (detail), from the Retablo di Tuili, 1498-1500. Tuili, San Pietro...... 60

3-3 Raphael, Saint Michael Trampling the , 1518. Oil on canvas, 106 3/8 x 63 inches (270 x 160 cm). Musée du Louvre, Paris...... 61

3-4 Workshop of Rubens, Saint Michael Expelling Lucifer and the Rebellious Angels, ca. 1622. Oil on canvas, 149 x 126 cm (58.7 x 49.6 in). Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid...... 61

3-5 Saint Michael Fighting the Dragon. Altar frontal from Church of Soriguerola (Gerona), late 13th century. Museum of Catalan Art, Barcelona...... 62

3-6 Saint Michael and the Dragon, Spanish Valencian Painter, ca. 1405. Tempera on wood, gold ground. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York...... 62

3-7 Bartolomé Bermejo, Archangel Michael, 1468. Oil and gold on wood, 179 x 82 cm. National Gallery, London...... 63

3-8 Saint Michael and Luzbel, copy of a by Martín de Vos. Original from Parroquia de la Cuesta, Soria, now in the Museo de Burgo de Osma, Soria, Spain...... 63

3-9 Martín de Vos, Saint Michael, 1581. Oil on wood. Cuautitlán, Mexico...... 64

3-10 Flight into , 11th century. MS. Lat. 12117 (Annals of Saint-Germain-des-Prés), fol. 108r. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris...... 64

3-11 Flight into Egypt, c. 1125. South porch of the narthex, east wall. Moissac, St. Pierre. ....65

6 3-12 Fall of Idols, c. 1230. Leaf from a Psalter. Hart 20960, fol. 3v. Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, United Kingdom...... 65

4-1 Battle of Aztec and Chichimec Warriors, 1570’s. South wall of church of San Miguel de Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, Mexico...... 101

4-2 Battle Scenes, 1570’s. South wall of church of San Miguel de Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, Mexico...... 101

4-3 Cristóbal de Villalpando, Virgin of the Apocalypse, c. 1685. Oil on canvas, 899 x 766 cm. Sacristy, Mexico City Cathedral...... 102

4-4 Miguel Cabrera, Virgin of the Apocalypse, c. 1760. Oil on canvas, 340 x 352.7 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City...... 102

4-5 Juan Correa, Saint Michael Archangel, late 17th century. Oil on canvas, 164 x 141 cm. Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City...... 103

4-6 Teocalli, 1519-1540. Florentine Codex, Book 11-Earthly Things, Part XII, Illustration 884, pg. 277. American Collection, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida...... 103

4-7 Vessel with Effigy of Tlaloc, 1440-1469. Ceramic. Museo , Mexico City...... 104

4-8 Huitzilopochtli wielding the Xiuhcoatl fire serpent. Image from An Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, p. 95. Original image from Codex Borbonicus, p. 34, 16th century...... 104

4-9 Huitzilopochtli in Demonic Guise. Allain Manesson Mallet Description de l’Universe, Paris 1683, ...... 105

7 Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts

VICTORY OVER AZTEC IDOLATRY: SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL BY LUIS JUÁREZ

By

Marcela Varona Carrillo

August 2015

Chair: Maya Stanfield-Mazzi Major: Art History

The Scene from the Apocalypse in which the archangel Michael defeats the devil has been used in Christian art to represent the triumph of good over evil. During the Reconquista in

Spain, the scene took on a more ambiguous meaning. It signified the triumph of good over evil, but it also began to represent the triumph of Spain’s Christian rulers over non-Christian groups that they considered to be heathens. Soon after, during the conquest of Mexico, the Spanish looked at the indigenous peoples as pagan and the Aztec gods as idols. This thesis analyzes the painting San Miguel Arcángel (c. 1615), one of the earliest surviving created in Mexico that represents the scene of the Apocalypse. Taking into account the possible location, the identity of the artist Luis Juárez, and the work’s iconography, I argue that the image of St.

Michael was used by Spanish society in Mexico to emphasize the heroic spirit of the conquest, while the devil may have been read as an Aztec idol.

8 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

The painting San Miguel Arcángel by Luis Juárez has been described formerly, but it has not been deeply analyzed according to its iconography and context. The scene depicts the

Archangel Michael defeating the devil. Christianity has used this scene to represent the triumph of good over evil since its early times. The epoch when it was painted (the first half of the 17th century), and the place where it was probably displayed make this painting unique. Luis Juárez was a creole artist who was well recognized and was commissioned for important projects during the first half of the seventeenth century in New Spain. The provenance is debatable, but primary sources suggest its original location was the church of the convent Jesús María in Mexico City, which housed an altarpiece dedicated to Saint Michael during the colonial era. The convent was dedicated to rescuing creole women who lived in poverty and were descendants of Spanish conquistadors who had not been rewarded for their achievements.

To understand the meaning of the painting I analyze the context, style, and iconography, including the significance that St. Michael and the devil had in Europe and later in New Spain.

The analysis of this painting occurs over three chapters. The second chapter includes information about the artist and a description of the painting, its style, its different artistic attributions, and the institutions where it has been displayed. The third chapter includes an analysis of the scene, and a discussion of the iconography and significance of the archangel and the devil in Spain and wider Europe. There I discuss treatises by Spanish clerics who related St. Michael to the Spanish monarchy. I also discuss the issue of idolatry and the persecution of Jews and Muslims in Spain before Europeans invaded America. The fourth and last chapter is dedicated to St. Michael and the devil in New Spain. It summarizes the conquest and the impact of Spanish colonization, considering especially Spanish missionaries’ attitudes toward Aztec religion. At the end of the

9 chapter I present my interpretation of San Miguel Arcángel, which asserts that St. Michael was identified as a Spanish conqueror and the devil could have been understood as an Aztec deity.

10 CHAPTER 2 SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL BY LUIS JUÁREZ

Luis Juárez

Little is known about the painter Luis Juárez’s life. It is estimated that he was born around 1585 and died in 1639.1 He was the first member of a dynasty of successful painters that was active during Mexico’s colonial period (1521-1821). Among his descendants were José

Juárez, Nicolás Rodríguez Juárez, and Juan Rodríguez Juárez.2 Historians have indicated that

Luis Juárez was born in Mexico. Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, a creole3 intellectual active during the second half of the seventeenth century in New Spain,4 described him as “el mexicano

Luis Juárez” [the Mexican Luis Juárez].5 After Sigüenza y Góngora, other scholars have continued to indicate that Juárez was Mexican.6 However, there is a small possibility that he was born in Spain. Some sources describe him as originating from Alcaudete, Spain.7 If this was the case, the latest he could have arrived in New Spain was in 1608, because he was married to Ana de Vergara in Mexico City in 1609.8 He enjoyed fame and prestige, and his artwork was much appreciated.9 He received important commissions and religious authorities gave his works a

1 Rogelio Ruiz Gomar, El pintor Luis Juárez: su vida y su obra, 1st ed. (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1987), 71, 75.

2 Ibid, 7.

3 Criollo [creole] indicated a person of Spanish descent born in the ; Magali M. Carrera, Imagining Identity in New Spain: Race, Lineage, and the Colonial Body in Portraiture and Casta Paintings (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003), 1.

4 Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, Paraíso Occidental (Mexico City; Cien de México, 2003 [1684]), 16.

5 Ruiz Gomar, El pintor Luis Juárez, 77.

6 Ibid.

7 Guía Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico City: Patronato del Museo Nacional de Arte, A. C., 2006), 280.

8 Ruiz Gomar, El pintor Luis Juárez, 73.

9 Carmen Andrade, "Luis Juárez: Siglo XVII," Artes de México no. 188 (1975): 36.

11 privileged place. Furthermore, they paid him better than any other painter at the time.10 Juárez worked mainly for the Carmelites, but also received “commissions for other religious orders, civil authorities, institutions, guilds, and individuals.”11 He painted altarpieces and collaborated with other artists. His work adorned numerous churches and convents in Mexico City and other surrounding towns, such as Zacatecas, Puebla, and Morelia. He died in Mexico City and was buried in the convent of San Agustín, where his family had a crypt.12

Description of San Miguel Arcángel

The painting San Miguel Arcángel is a representation of the passage “The Vision of the

Woman and the Dragon” in the (Apocalypse 12: 7-9). It describes the battle in heaven between Saint Michael and , who is expelled from heaven and thrown to earth

(Figure 2-1).13 The picture is oil on wooden panel and its shape is almost square, measuring 172 x 153 cm (5.64 x 5.02 feet).14 In Juárez’s scene, the two figures are shown full body, taking up the majority of the panel, and in very dynamic positions. Saint Michael is standing in a twisted position, with his right foot pressing on the devil’s back. His right arm is raised, holding a spear with a banner that bears the phrase “QUIS. UT. DEUS” [Who is like God?]. His left arm is extended below his right with his palm outstretched. Michael is depicted as a youth, with light pink skin and blushing cheeks. He has reddish-blonde curly hair held back with a headband. His face has a child-like appearance. According to art historian Rogelio Ruiz Gomar, Juárez painted

10 Ibid, 36-7.

11 Rogelio Ruiz Gomar, “Unique Expressions: Painting in New Spain,” in Painting a New World: and Life, 1521-1821 (Denver: Frederick and Jan Mayer Center for Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial Art, Denver Art Museum, 2004), 62.

12 Andrade, Luis Juárez: Siglo XVII, 37.

13 “Visión de la Mujer y el Dragón,” (Apocalipsis 12: 7-9), in Gran Biblia de Jerusalén ilustrada, vol. 10 (México: Promociones Editoriales Mexicanas, S.A. de C.V., 1980), 2446.

14 Museo Nacional de Arte, inventory 3214, Abraham Villavicencio, e-mail message to author, 21 October 2014.

12 all angel faces in this fashion, with thin curved eyebrows, small and widely separated eyes, short and slightly wide noses, small lips, wide cheeks, and high foreheads.15

Saint Michael is dressed like a Roman soldier. His navy blue breast plate is ornamented with a golden sun and stars. It also includes golden lines at the neck and curves along the bottom.

The skirt is dark orange, flowing backward with the movement of the angel. It has navy-blue ribbons with gold outlines that also move with the figure. Michael also wears two capes, one red and one green, which move with the wind. Ruiz Gomar describes these fabrics as having a stiff cardboard-like appearance.16 Saint Michael is wearing navy blue sandals that are open in the front, showing his toes. They are decorated with leaf-like golden motifs and red fabric on top. He has open bird-like wings. They are golden on top and there are different shades of grey on the rest of each wing.

The devil appears in a falling position. He is nude with russet-colored skin. He is depicted in human form with some bestial features. He has long nails on his hands and feet, a long coiled tail like that of a rat, wings like those of a bat, and pointed ears like those of a faun.17

These features were used in medieval Europe to represent the devil. Some of them come from pagan deities and were used to make the figure to look grotesque.18 The devil’s face has harsh features, with big eyes, thick eyebrows, a wide nose, and thick lips. He has prominent cheekbones, a small beard with scraggly hair, and curly reddish-brown hair. The human shape of the devil may be due to the Renaissance tradition of exploring the human body. In the

15 Ruiz Gomar, El pintor Luis Juárez, 173.

16 Ibid, 119.

17 A faun is “a creature in Roman mythology that is part human and part goat.” “Faun,” Merriam-Webster, accessed December 18, 2014, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faun.

18 Luther Link, The Devil: The Archfiend in Art from the Sixth to the Sixteenth Century (London: Harry N. Abrams, 1995), 44-5.

13 Renaissance there was a strong enthusiasm to study the human body, taking classical figures as models.19 Detailed musculature gives naturalism and virility to the ’ body.20 His skin color is markedly darker than that of the archangel. Ruiz Gomar says Luis Juárez painted Satan in a darker tone and with bestial features in order to make him ugly.21 According to art historian

Carmen Andrade, Juárez was concerned about miscegenation and he painted the devil with a darker skin color to evoke the idea of racial mixing.22 The scene captures the moment of transformation from angel to devil as he falls. Biblical scriptures and the Christian tradition explain that the devil was originally a good angel who turned against God. When the rebel angel was expelled from heaven, his shape turned to that of a demon while he fell.23 This explains

Juárez’s showing the devil in human shape with some animal features, as if in the process of transformation. Ruiz Gomar describes this figure of the devil by Juárez as one of the most beautiful and interesting bodies painted during Spanish colonial times.24 Even though he painted the devil with negative characteristics to reflect his evilness, Juárez painted a beautiful figure full of naturalism, in the style of the Renaissance.

The background is composed of blue clouds that occupy three-quarters of the composition, and a landscape appears in the bottom quarter of the scene. At the top some clouds are opening, permitting celestial light to enter the scene. This yellow light is placed behind the

19 Andrew Keitt, “The Devil in the Old World: Anti-superstition Literature, Medical Humanism and Preternatural Philosophy in Early Modern Spain,” in Angels, Demons and the New World. Ed. Fernando Cervantes and Andrew Redden (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 27.

20 Ruiz Gomar, El pintor Luis Juárez, 173-74.

21 Ibid, 174.

22 Andrade, Luis Juárez: Siglo XVII, 37.

23 Rosa Giorgi, Angels and Demons in Art (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003), 236.

24 Ruiz Gomar, El pintor Luis Juárez, 174.

14 head of Saint Michael, and spreading rays illuminate the landscape. At the bottom left appears a tree, and a tree trunk lies in the foreground. In the center distance is a calm sea, and at the right are cliffs. Landscape backgrounds were commonly painted by artists of the seventeenth century.25 Juárez’s works frequently include a small landscape in the background, in sepia and greyish tones. These sober backgrounds help emphasize the main figures.26 This work’s composition follows these characteristics for the background: a small landscape with some sepia, greenish, and blue/greyish colors that permits the viewer to focus attention on the two main figures.

Style

The strongest artistic influences on San Miguel Arcángel are the Italian Mannerist,

Flemish, and styles. Ruiz Gomar dates the work to about 1615.27 In the early seventeenth century, painting in New Spain was strongly influenced by art in Spain, which in turn was influenced by other European styles. Paintings by Luis Juárez correspond to the end of

European . Mannerism in Europe has been described as a “sophisticated, artificial, and refined style that flourished in the Italian courts during much of the sixteenth century.”28

Artists were more inspired by art than by nature, and sophistication and elegance were more important than naturalism.29 In colonial Mexico, Mannerist art was developed at the end of the

25 Ibid, 121.

26 Ibid.

27 Rogelio Ruiz Gomar, “San Miguel Arcángel,” in Revelaciones: Las artes en América Latina, 1492-1820 (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007), 362.

28 Frederick Hartt and G. Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2011), 696.

29 Ibid, 543.

15 sixteenth century and continued until 1640 or 1650.30 This style has been placed between the

Renaissance and Baroque styles.31 In Mexico, Mannerism developed in the major cities, such as

Mexico City, Puebla, Guadalajara, and Merida. It was mainly promoted by the viceregal court and the religious and civil councils, exclusive groups belonging to the highest-ranking institutions.32 Since the painting of San Miguel Arcángel corresponds to the dates and characteristics of Mannerism, there is a possibility that it was part of an important commission by a person or group of high rank.

In San Miguel Arcángel, the Mannerist style may be seen in the two main figures. It is best observed in Saint Michael. The whiteness of his skin looks unnatural, but gives some elegance to his character. Also, the features of his face look too delicate to be those of a grown man. Finally, his twisted position, including the movement of his neck and the gesture of his left hand, is peculiar. He is fighting against the devil, but in the midst of battle, this position makes him look sophisticated, not like a savage warrior. All these elements together give elegance to the archangel. In the devil there is also a certain elegance. Features of unsavory nighttime animals, such as bats and rats, were added to make him look ugly and demoniacal. However, his human shape, musculature, and languid right arm make him look beautiful. Instead of a frightening figure, he appears as a tragically elegant figure. The elements that give elegance to the composition are the qualities of Mannerism.

30 Jorge Alberto Manrique, “Reflexión sobre el manierismo en México,” Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas 10, no. 40 (1971): 26.

31 Ibid, 21.

32 Ibid, 29-30.

16 San Miguel Arcángel also has Flemish influence. Painting flourished in the Netherlands in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and is distinguished by its realism.33 The most influential

Flemish painters in the Netherlands were Jan van Eyck and Roger van der Weyden. In Spain, the

Flemish style was adopted during the fifteenth century and endured until the sixteenth century in some parts of the country.34 From around 1550 to 1630, the Flemish style was followed in

Seville, the official port to the New World and the most direct source of European influence for painters in New Spain.35 Before European painters arrived in New Spain and during the first years of colonization, paintings were imported from Flanders and Spain. These included paintings by Frans Floris (1519/20-1570) and Martín de Vos (1532-1603), both Flemish painters.

The first European painters who arrived in New Spain and developed this style were the Flemish

Simon Pereyns, who arrived in 1566, and the Sevillian Andrés de la Concha, arriving around

1570. Both developed the Flemish style that was employed in Seville.36 Baltasar de Echave Orio, of Basque origin, and Alonso Vázquez, from Spain, also came to work in Mexico between the end of the sixteenth century and beginning of the seventeenth. Both spent time working in

Seville and brought the Flemish style to the New World.37 Subsequent artists who were born in

Mexico and were active during the first half of the seventeenth century, such as Luis Juárez and

33 Enrique Lafuente Ferrari, El Prado: La pintura nórdica (Madrid: Librofilm Aguilar, 1977), 33.

34 Jonathan Brown, Painting in Spain: 1500-1700 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 7-8.

35 Jonathan Brown, “Introduction: Spanish Painting and New Spanish Painting, 1550-1700,” in Painting a New World: Mexican Art and Life, 1521-1821 (Denver: Frederick and Jan Mayer Center for Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial Art, Denver Art Museum, 2004), 19.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid, 20.

17 Baltasar de Echave Ibía, followed the style of these European artists, whose Flemish style included Mannerist touches.38

In San Miguel Arcángel, the Flemish influence can be observed in the landscape.39

Netherlandish artists used backgrounds with similar trees, land, rivers, and mountains in the distance, in sepia, greenish, bluish, and greyish tones. These similarities to Flemish painting may be seen in the painting A Flemish Fair by Jan Brueghel the Elder, painted in 1600 (Figure 2-2).

At center, a tree full of foliage slightly inclines to the left, toward an expanse of flat land and trees, and a blue/grey river and mountains extend to the right, as in Juárez’s painting. Those tones were a formula for the atmospheric perspective.

The painting by Juárez also includes elements of the Baroque style. This style was first developed in and Spain and later spread around Europe. It started in the late sixteenth century and continued to be used in the seventeenth century and first half of the eighteenth century.40 The Baroque style has been identified as exuberant, irregular, confusing, dramatic, and intense.41 Baroque is recognized as the official style of the Counter-Reformation.42

According to art historian Marcus B. Burke, Juárez was one of the main artists to represent the

Counter-Reformation’s prosaic style in Mexico.43 The Counter-Reformation was the Catholic

Church’s movement of defense in the battle against . In order to maintain

38 Ibid, 20-1.

39 Personal communication, Abraham Villavicencio, curator at Museo Nacional de Arte, June 2014, Mexico City.

40 "Baroque," The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. Oxford Art Online, , accessed April 22, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t4/e166.

41 Victor-Lucien Tapié, El Barroco (Buenos Aires: Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires, 1963), 7.

42 "Baroque," The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art.

43 Counter-Reformation prosaic style refers to the holy figures that are portrayed in an ecstatic way. Marcus B. Burke, Treasures of Mexican Colonial Painting: The Davenport Museum of Art Collection. Davenport (Iowa: Davenport Museum of Art, 1998), 17.

18 orthodoxy, strict rules for religious iconography were established, but painting became more expressive in a spiritual sense.44 Spain was a staunch defender of Catholicism, and its Counter-

Reformation painting was transported to New Spain.45 The following elements used in appear in Juárez’s painting: figures organized along a diagonal axis, a division of celestial and terrestrial areas, background openings to heaven,46 drama and movement showing glory, and the use of light to symbolize holiness.47

In the painting, the diagonal upper-left to lower-right axis is formed with the angel inclining to the left as his spear points down to the lower right. The body of the devil also falls downward to the right. The diagonal line is further emphasized by the angel’s right arm reaching up, and the devil’s left arm reaching down. A division of celestial and terrestrial areas is also clear. The tree and the land highlight the earthly section. The area of water has a bluish/greyish color similar to heaven, but the horizontal line of the river and its darker tone separates earth from heaven. The devil’s body overlays the earthly sphere, confirming his fall to earth.

Michael’s body, on the other hand, remains in the heavenly sphere. The heavens open to permit light to enter the scene; this light is falling from above, illuminating the celestial area and surrounding the archangel. Drama and movement are seen with the flow of Michael’s draperies and the falling of the devil. Beauty may be seen in both characters; in the delicacy of the angel and the naturalistic body of Satan.

The Baroque style of the Counter-Reformation, as well as Mannerist and Flemish influences, were brought from Europe. These influences in style may be seen in the painting’s

44 Brown, Spanish Painting and New Spanish Painting, 18.

45 Ibid.

46 Ruiz Gomar, Unique Expressions, 52.

47 Werner Weisbach, El barroco, arte de la contrarreforma (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1948), 327-28.

19 physical appearance. However, the meaning and the intentions pursued with the use of images were also transported from Spain to the New World. The style is completely European, without any indigenous or regional influence. The use of purely European visual elements may signify that its meaning in New Spain was similar to that of similar works created in Spain. The use of

Mannerism may signify that it was an important commission; elements related to the Counter-

Reformation could mean the authorities wanted to convey the victorious spirit of Counter-

Reformation Catholicism. But, as we will see, the particular victory alluded to in this painting had a very local meaning as well.

Attribution

The painting San Miguel Arcángel has no signature. It has been attributed to three different artists with similar styles, including Juárez. The most recent attribution assigns it to

Juárez because it has many similarities to other paintings signed by him. In his foundational book

Pintura colonial en México, Manuel Toussaint attributed the piece to the Spanish artist Alonso

Vázquez.48 He said the painting of San Miguel had previously been assigned to Juárez in a catalog by Mateo Herrera. Later, the attribution was changed to Baltasar de Echave Orio by

Herrera. Toussaint argued that these two attributions were not possible. For him, the archangel

Michael was identical to an angel depicted in the altar screen known as “de la Puebla” in the

Cathedral of Seville, whose works were painted by Vázquez.49 The book’s catalog lists the image of San Miguel Arcángel as an artwork by Vázquez.

48 Alonso Vázquez (1565-1608) was a Spanish painter who worked in Seville from 1588 until 1603, when he traveled to New Spain. His painting developed Mannerist, Italian, and Flemish styles. “Alonso Vázquez,” Oxford Art Online, accessed April 04, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T088369?q=Alonso+Vazquez&search=quick&pos=1& _start=1#T088370.

49 Manuel Toussaint, Pintura colonial en México. 1st ed. (Mexico City: Impr. Universitaria, 1965), 78.

20 After analyzing the previous attributions, Ruiz Gomar now credits the painting to Luis

Juárez. According to him, Manuel Toussaint was the first scholar who disagreed with attributing

San Miguel Arcángel to Juárez. Juárez was not considered a good draftsman, but the figure of the devil is perfectly drawn. This may be why Toussaint did not attribute the composition to this painter.50 Ruiz Gomar disagrees with the attribution of the painting to Alonso Vázquez. He says the style of Vázquez is similar to that of Juárez, but the painting has more similarities to other compositions by Juárez. Further, he asserts that the comparison of Saint Michael with the angel in the composition by Vázquez in Seville is not convincing.51 Martín Soria is another scholar who attributed San Miguel Arcángel to Alonso Vázquez. He based his attribution on similarities in the illumination and the quality of the fabrics.52 Diego Angulo also analyzed the painting when it was attributed to Alonso Vázquez. He noticed many similarities to the work of Juárez and said it could be from his hand.53 Ultimately, Ruiz Gomar credits the painting to Juárez. For him, the hair, the fabric, the heavenly background, and the landscape are characteristic of

Juárez’s work.54

Ruiz Gomar also mentions some features of Juárez’s figures that are included in San

Miguel Arcángel. One is his positioning of hands: often a hand shows the palm, with long, extended fingers, and the last phalange of the ring finger is bent.55 This position is seen in the left hand of the archangel. His hand is open, showing the palm and the ring and little finger slightly flexed. Ruiz Gomar also describes the features of Juárez’s angels. His youthful, graceful angels

50 Ruiz Gomar, El pintor Luis Juárez, 176.

51 Ibid.

52 Ibid.

53 Ibid.

54 Ibid, 176-7.

55 Ibid, 117.

21 have blond and curly hair, broad foreheads, a recessed hairline on either side of the head, snub noses, and small eyes.56 These characteristics are also included in Michael. He is a youth, with reddish-blond curly hair, a high forehead, a recessed hairline on either side of his head, and a snub nose. Ruiz Gomar also says the garments in angels usually show a little flirtation, and are arranged in a way that shows half of a leg, or an arm and chest.57 In this composition Michael has his skirt moving back, and his right leg is exposed from mid-thigh. Ruiz Gomar reminds us that the clothing in Juárez’s paintings sometimes looks unnatural.58 The archangel’s uniform looks relatively natural, but the red and green cloak-like garments have a stiff appearance.

Only a few paintings were signed by Luis Juárez. The Marriage of the Virgin at the

Davenport Museum of Art bears his fragmented signature (Figure 2-3).59 In the scene, Mary marries Saint . The priest is at the center, holding their hands; angels appear to the sides and two cherubs flying at the top of the composition flank the Holy Spirit. If we analyze the features of the figures in this scene, we can find similarities to San Miguel Arcángel. For example, Mary’s facial features are similar to those of Michael. The light pink skin; the inclination of the head; the shape of the eyes, nose, and mouth; and the thin curved eyebrows of

Mary are all similar to those of the archangel. The blond curly hair and the recessed hairline of the cherub at upper left are also seen in Saint Michael. The position of this cherub is similar to the position of the devil. Finally, Mary and Joseph’s cloaks resemble the red and green attire of

Michael.

56 Ibid, 118.

57 Ibid, 119.

58 Ibid.

59 Burke, Treasures, 17.

22 The characteristics Ruiz Gomar contends are common in Juárez’s compositions correspond to the ones in the painting. Specifically, many features in The Marriage of the Virgin are repeated in the painting of Saint Michael. All of these similarities convince me that the artist was Luis Juárez.

Location

Church and Convent of Jesús María

San Miguel Arcángel is currently on display at the Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL) in

Mexico City. Before arriving at this museum, the painting was housed in different institutions, including the Pinacoteca Virreinal de San Diego [Viceregal Art Gallery of San Diego], and the

Academia de San Carlos [Academy of San Carlos]. It is questionable what church or convent originally housed San Miguel Arcángel during colonial times. The scholars Virginia Armella de

Aspe and Mercedes Meade de Angulo suggest that the provenience of San Miguel was the church of the convent Jesús María in Mexico City. It housed an altarpiece called Las glorias del

Arcángel San Miguel [The Glories of the Archangel Michael] and this painting could have been part of it.60 That altar screen61 was not the main one in the church. The main altarpiece displayed scenes from the Mary and it was finished in 1621. A surviving painting of the

Annunciation may come from there,62 as well as The Marriage of the Virgin at the Davenport

Museum of Art.

60 An altarpiece (also known as a retable or altar screen) is a wooden framework, often gilded, that encloses many paintings or sculptures which surround a central devotional image. Clara Bargellini, “Los retablos del siglo XVI y principios del siglo XVII,” in Los retablos de la ciudad de México: siglos XVI al XX (Mexico City: Asociación del Patrimonio Artístico Mexicano, 2005), 73.

61 Altar screen is a more elaborate structure also used behind the altar. Its function has been associated with the altarpiece, and the terms have been alternated. In this thesis, both terms (altarpiece and altar screen) are used interchangeably, but altar screen is the most appropriate since it refers to a more elaborated structure.

62 Virginia Armella de Aspe and Mercedes Meade de Angulo, Tesoros de la Pinacoteca Virreinal (Mexico City: Fomento Cultural Banamex, A. C., 1989), 57-8.

23 The full name of the convent was Real Convento de Religiosas de Jesús María de

México [Royal Convent of the Sisters of Mary of Mexico]. The main founder of this convent was Pedro Tomás de Denia, an important conquistador.63 Other founders were the presbyter Gregorio de Pesquera and the viceroy Martín Enríquez. The archbishop and apostolic inquisitor Pedro Moya de Contreras assigned the name “Jesús María” and collaborated in its foundation.64 The first location was established by 1578 on Tacuba Street in Mexico City, in some houses next to the parish church of Santa Veracruz.65 It included a small church. The first nuns in charge, who were called founders, came from the convent Limpia Concepción [Pure

Conception] that was founded some time earlier by Fray Juan de Zumárraga, the first bishop of

Mexico.66 All nuns who attended Jesús María were creole or peninsular Spaniards from respected Christian families.67 Because of its small size and unfavorable location, the convent moved in 1582 to a new site.68 That is where it is still located, on the streets Jesús María, and

Corregidora. The previous and new buildings were located in the Spanish area of the city, near the Cathedral and the main square (zócalo). This space was surrounded by the indigenous neighborhoods that were treated as separate sections of the city.69 The convent received royal

63 Balthazar Ladrón de Guevara, Manifiesto que el real convento de religiosas de Jesús María de México de el real patronato sujeto al orden de la Purissima e Immaculada Concepción hace al sagrado concilio provincial (Mexico City: Imprenta de D. Felipe Zuñiga y Ontiveros, 1771), 8.

64 “Ex-Convento de Jesús María Cd. de México,” Comisión Nacional de Arte Sacro, Carteles informativos de Arte Sacro; Ladrón de Guevara, 12.

65 Sigüenza y Góngora, Paraíso, 60.

66 Sigüenza y Góngora, Paraíso, 62-3.

67 Ibid, 15.

68 Ibid, 67.

69 Andrés Lira, Comunidades indígenas frente a la Ciudad de México: Tenochtitlán y Tlatelolco, sus pueblos y barrios, 1812-1919 (Michoacán: CONACYT, 1983), 30.

24 certification from King Philip II on February 4, 1583, the day that marks the date of its foundation.70 The construction of the church started in 1596, and it was completed in 1621.71

The convent was one of the most important congregations in New Spain because of the social support it offered.72 Its main goal was to protect the daughters, granddaughters, and descendants of conquerors who had not been rewarded for their services to the crown. These women were living in poverty, and according to the eighteenth-century Mexican historian

Balthazar Ladrón de Guevara, the only legacy they possessed was their inherited nobility.73 The authorities of the institution tried to prevent these women from marrying men whose blood was considered to be of lower quality. They intended to protect the girls and see that they were not the subject of scandal in their towns, since poverty might force them to act outside the bounds of social propriety.74

A legend told by Sigüenza y Góngora in his account of New Spain Paraíso Occidental

[Western Paradise] says that the archbishop Pedro Moya de Contreras came to New Spain and brought with him an approximately two-year-old girl whom he introduced as his niece. She was first raised in the convent of Limpia Concepción, and was later sent to the newly founded convent of Jesús María. In both institutions, she received special care because of her noble blood.

Her name was Micaela de los Ángeles, and it was later reported that she was an illegitimate daughter of King Philip II.75 When she was thirteen years old, she became ill and lost her mental

70 Sigüenza y Góngora, Paraíso, 71.

71 Archivo Geográfico, Jesús María, Templo y Ex-Convento, Folder 1 (Mexico City: INAH, Archivo Geográfico Jorge Enciso, 1931-1993), 2.

72 Ibid, 52.

73 Ladrón de Guevara, Manifiesto, 8.

74 Ibid.

75 Sigüenza y Góngora, Paraíso, 74.

25 capacities. A special room was created for her care, where she was surrounded by doctors, nuns, and servants. She died at an early age, but she was well remembered. Thanks to her, the convent received protection and wealth from her father the king.76 It is possible that she was buried in the church, which was constructed with the support of Philip II.77 In 1684 Micaela was still honored by the nuns because she had brought royal patronage to Jesús María.78

Sigüenza y Góngora describes nine altarpieces that were part of the church of Jesús

María. Because he lived during the second half of the seventeenth century, he could have seen these altarpieces with their original sixteenth and early seventeenth century paintings. He reported that the retable for the main altar was painted by Juárez and described it as an exceptional artwork. It cost 9000 pesos, a great sum of money at the time.79 Sigüenza y Góngora further explained that the church had eight other altarpieces in chapels constructed on the side walls.80 They were nine altarpieces overall. Each altarpiece was dedicated to a sacred individual.

The first was the main one, dedicated to Jesus and Mary; the second was to the Guardian Angel; the third to Saint ; the fourth to dying on the cross; the fifth to the

Immaculate Virgin and her rosary; the sixth to Christ crucified and his apostle Saint James; the seventh to Rose of Lima; the eighth to the humility and patience of Christ; and the ninth to the glories of the archangel Michael.81 This altarpiece of the glories of the archangel Michael was sponsored by Santiago de Zuri-Calday, chaplain of the convent and secretary of fray Payo

76 Ibid, 74-5.

77 Jermán Argueta, Crónicas y leyendas mexicanas (Mexico City: Lectorum, 2005), 95.

78 Stafford Poole, Pedro Moya de Contreras: Catholic Reform and Royal Power in New Spain, 1531-1591 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2011), 70.

79 Sigüenza y Góngora, Paraíso, 88.

80 Ibid, 88-9.

81 Ibid, 90.

26 Enríquez de Ribera, who was archbishop of Mexico and viceroy of New Spain from 1668 to

1681.82 This ninth altar screen is the one that Armella de Aspe and Meade de Angulo suggest could have been dedicated to Micaela de los Ángeles because of the similarity of the names,

Micaela being the female version of Michael. Based on its topic, it could have included the painting of San Miguel Arcángel by Luis Juárez.83

The church was renewed at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was re-decorated in neoclassical style. This work is attributed to Manuel Tolsá but also could have been the work of González Velázquez. González made the main altarpiece that is still on site. It replaced the main altarpiece made by Juárez in the seventeenth century.84 The side altarpieces were disassembled at some point and no longer survive in the church. It is unknown how many panels composed the altarpiece Las glorias del arcángel San Miguel, which was the main picture, and how it was arranged. If the altar screen included several panels, it is also unknown where they were sent after removal. It is also unclear whether the altarpieces were removed from the church of Jesús María after the Reformation Law of Benito Juárez,85 or if they were removed earlier when the church was renewed and decorated in neoclassical style. The altar screens were probably sent to other churches, or separated and sent to different storage sites after the

Reformation Law. There is no record of these changes or how the original altar screens looked.

Art historians have proposed that the paintings San Miguel Arcángel and El ángel de la guarda [The Guardian Angel] (Figure 2-4), were part of the same altarpiece. The Guardian

82 Ibid, 89-90.

83 Armella de Aspe and Meade de Angulo, 57.

84 Archivo Geográfico, Jesús María, 2.

85 The Reform Law was imposed by the president Benito Juárez in 1859, suppressing the Church and religious orders. The belongings of churches, such as books and artworks, were moved to libraries and public museums and church properties were sold. Luis Pazos, Historia sinóptica de Mexico de los Olmecas a Fox (Mexico City: Editorial Diana, 2001), 95.

27 Angel is also on exhibit at the MUNAL and has been attributed to Luis Juárez. Both paintings have similar panel sizes with an almost square shape. San Miguel measures 172 x 153 cm and El

ángel de la guarda 173.5 x 149.5 cm.86 The difference in size between these paintings is minimal. They also share a similar topic that includes an archangel and a devil. At MUNAL, both artworks are on display in similar frames. These were likely created in later times, but it could mean that the works had the same provenience and were transported and cared for together. According to Abraham Villavicencio, curator at MUNAL, the paintings of San Miguel and El ángel de la guarda could have been painted as a pair for the same project, due to their similarities.87 Ruiz Gomar also indicates that it is very probable that both paintings were a pair because of the similar almost-square panel format and similar size.88 Based on the descriptions of the nine altarpieces in the church of Jesús María by Sigüenza y Góngora, I think the painting San

Miguel Arcángel belonged to this church and was part of the ninth altarpiece dedicated to the glories of Saint Michael. I also believe that the panel El ángel de la guarda belonged to this church. However, I do not think it was part of the same altar screen on the glories of Saint

Michael. It is likely to have been part of the second altar screen dedicated to the guardian angel.

If that was the case, based on the order of altarpieces provided by Sigüenza y Góngora, the paintings would have faced each other across the church nave. It is unknown if the Apocalypse panel was the largest of Michael’s glories, but if that was the case, it could have been at the center of the altarpiece.

El ángel de la guarda, an oil on panel, depicts the angel at the center of the composition.

At his left there is a child dressed in elegant Spanish clothing, which is cause to suspect he could

86 Museo Nacional de Arte, inventory 3122, Abraham Villavicencio, e-mail message to autor, 21 October 2014.

87 Abraham Villavicencio, personal communication, June 03, 2014.

88 Ruiz Gomar, Revelaciones, 362.

28 be Philip III, the son Phillip II and Micaela’s half-brother. He is standing on the earth, an indicator of worldly power. At the bottom left is the figure of a woman who is wearing jewels and showing one breast. She could be a soul of the purgatory or a tempting demon. To her left is a devil holding a sharp tool. These two figures both represent evil. The angel seems to protect the child from them. The background includes a landscape that is illuminated by a divine light that emerges from the upper right corner.89 This painting has been attributed to Baltasar de Echave

Orio and Alonso Vázquez. Now it is attributed to Luis Juárez. According to Ruiz Gomar, the standing position of the angel is seen in other paintings by Luis Juárez. Also, the movement of his raised hand is repeated in other compositions by Juárez.90

Academia de San Carlos

As mentioned earlier, it is unclear where the panels that were housed in the church of

Jesús María were sent after their removal. Assuming San Miguel Arcángel was among these, it is unknown where it was taken. The next recorded location of the painting is the Academia de San

Carlos [Academy of San Carlos]. The artwork was probably in storage at another institution before arriving there, but there are no records to tell us where. According to Villavicencio, José

Bernardo Couto, a politician and scholar, recovered some colonial art from churches and convents after the Mexican president Benito Juárez separated the Church from the state. Many artworks were lost, and the ones that Couto recovered were housed in the Academia.91 There is a possibility that San Miguel was recovered by Couto.

The Academia was founded in 1783 in Mexico City. It collected artworks (such as paintings, sculptures, and engravings) for educational purposes, and the collection grew over

89 Ruiz Gomar, El pintor Luis Juárez, 178; Guía Museo Nacional de Arte, 44.

90 Ruiz Gomar, El pintor Luis Juárez, 177, 179.

91 Abraham Villavicencio, personal communication, June 03, 2014.

29 time.92 It received a vast number of paintings from different churches and convents that were suppressed by the government. Some of these religious artworks came from Jesuit convents. The

Jesuits were expelled from New Spain in 1767, shortly before the foundation of the Academia.

Jesuit works were kept in storage, waiting to be distributed, and many were eventually turned over to the Academia.93 Other artworks arrived during the War of Independence that started in

1810 and ended in 1821. Additional paintings came from convents closed by the Reform Laws imposed by president Benito Juárez in 1859.94

People only regained an appreciation for Spanish colonial painting in the mid-nineteenth century. Couto, who was president of the Academy from 1852 to 1861, saw this new interest and asked religious communities to donate artworks. His intention was to create a gallery to exhibit

Mexican art, which he called the ancient Mexican school.95 He received a positive response.

Artworks received included paintings by Luis Juárez, Baltasar de Echave Orio, Baltasar de

Echave Ibía, Sebastián de Arteaga, Baltasar de Echave Rioja, Miguel Cabrera, and others.96 The

Guía del archivo de la antigua Academia de San Carlos [Guide of the Archives of the Royal

Academy of San Carlos], written by Eduardo Báez Macías, includes inventories listing paintings that came to the institution. This guide also includes letters. Some mention paintings that were in storage, taken from different churches and convents in the time of Benito Juárez. One from 1865 asks the director of the Academia to pick up a group of paintings from the Convento de la

Encarnación [Convent of the Incarnation], saying that those paintings could be used for the

92 José Bernardo Couto, Diálogo sobre la historia de la pintura en México (Mexico City: Cien de México, 1995 [1872]), 31.

93 Ibid, 32.

94 Guía Museo Nacional de Arte, 29.

95 Couto, Diálogo, 35.

96 Ibid, 37.

30 gallery of Mexican Art.97 But those letters do not mention the Convent of Jesús María, nor do they specify which artworks were in storage.

It seems the painting of San Miguel Arcángel arrived by 1862. It is listed in the 1862 inventory of paintings given to the Academy of San Carlos by José Lamadrid.98 However, it is registered as an anonymous painting, together with Ángel de la guarda.99 There is no provenance included. In a later list of 1866, San Miguel Arcángel appears as an artwork by Luis Juárez.100 In this inventory, other artworks are attributed to Juárez, such as La oración en el huerto [Prayer in the Garden], Sagrada Familia [The ], El Angel Custodio (surely The Guardian

Angel), and San Francisco [Saint Francis]. The list also includes artworks by other painters active in colonial times, such as Baltasar de Echave Orio, Sebastián Arteaga, Juan Rodríguez

Juárez (Luis’ great grandson), Juan Correa, Nicolás Correa, Francisco Antonio Vallejo, Cristóbal de Villalpando, Juan de Ibarra, Antonio Sarmiento, and Luis’ son José Juárez. The paintings were all housed in the Academia, and according to this inventory, they belonged to the civil state.101

Pinacoteca Virreinal de San Diego

After belonging to the Academy of San Carlos, the collection of Spanish colonial paintings was moved to the Pinacoteca Virreinal de San Diego [Viceregal Art Gallery of San

Diego] in Mexico City. The collection arrived at this location in 1964 and was removed in

97 Eduardo Báez Macías, Guía del archivo de la Antigua Academia de San Carlos: 1844-1867 (México, D. F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, 1976), 328.

98 Ibid.

99 Ibid, 330.

100 Ibid, 318.

101 Ibid, 318-19.

31 1999.102 At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Academia was incorporated into the

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) [National Autonomous University of

Mexico] and the collection’s ownership passed to the university. By 1934 a group of paintings was sent to the Museo Nacional de Artes Plásticas [National Museum of Fine Arts] that was at that time located in the [Palace of Fine Arts]. In 1964, the Spanish colonial collection of paintings was sent to the Pinacoteca Virreinal.103

During Spanish colonization this site was a Franciscan church and convent, constructed beginning in 1591. In front of the church was a square that in 1596 was the site of Inquisition bonfires.104 The building was modified over time. In the eighteenth century, the church was reconstructed and a chapel was added. In the mid-nineteenth century, after Mexico gained independence, the church’s eighteenth-century altarpieces were destroyed and substituted with neoclassical decoration.105 In 1861, with the Reform Law, the convent was closed. In the church and in the remains of the convent, the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes [National Institute of

Fine Arts] founded the Pinacoteca Virreinal.106 In 1964, the Pinacoteca received religious artworks from many other convents that had been suppressed by the reform laws. In 1999, all of these pieces were transported to MUNAL. Currently, the Pinacoteca is the Laboratorio de Arte

Alameda [Alameda Art Laboratory], dedicated to exhibiting contemporary art.107

102 Guía Museo Nacional de Arte, 29.

103 Ibid.

104 Ernesto Sodi Pallares, Pinacoteca Virreinal de San Diego (México, D. F.; Populibros “La Prensa,” 1969), 23.

105 Ibid, 25-6.

106 Ibid, 26.

107 “Pinacoteca Virreinal de San Diego,” Nueva Guía del Centro Histórico de México, http://www.guiadelcentrohistorico.mx/content/ex-convento-de-san-diego-pinacoteca-virreinal-laboratorio-arte- alameda.

32 Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL)

The painting came to the MUNAL with the group of paintings that belonged previously to the Pinacoteca Virreinal. The museum was founded in 1982 and owns artworks related to

Mexican heritage. The earliest works date to the sixteenth century, and the collections continue up to the first half of the twentieth century.108 The impressive neoclassical building that now holds the collections was constructed in 1891, during the government of Porfirio Díaz.

Originally, it housed the Ministry of Communication and Public Works.109 From 1973 to 1982 it housed the National Archive. When the museum opened in 1982, it belonged to the Ministry of

Education.110 The collection of Spanish colonial paintings arrived at the museum in two stages.

The first was between 1982 and 1998. The second came in 1999 from the Pinacoteca

Virreinal.111

The permanent exhibit of the painting collection features fourteen exhibition halls and is titled Asimilación de Occidente: La pintura en la Nueva España (1550-1821) [Assimilation of the West: Painting in New Spain]. It is divided into four periods: Transplante y asimilación

[Transplant and Assimilation], which exhibits works of the first painters who arrived from Spain and the first generation of artists in the New World; Contrastes lumínicos de color [Color and

Light Contrasts], showing the work of artists of the seventeenth century who painted in the tenebrist style; Reelaboraciones y novedades pictóricas [Reformulations and New Depictions], including the work of artists who provided new artistic styles and themes; and Nacimiento de un proyecto ilustrado [Birth of an Enlightenment Project], with works related to the foundation of

108 Guía Museo Nacional de Arte, 9.

109 Ibid, 21.

110 Ibid, 23.

111 Ibid, 29.

33 the Real Academia de las Tres Nobles Artes [Royal Academy of the Three Noble Arts],112 a previous version of the Academia that was founded in 1781.113 The collection includes six paintings and two fragments by Luis Juárez: Santa Ana [] (fragment), La imposición de la casulla a San Ildefonso de manos de la Virgen [The Imposition of the Chasuble on Saint

Ildefonsus by the Hands of the Virgin], El matrimonio místico de Santa Catalina de Alejandría

[The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria], El martirio de Santa Úrsula [The

Martyrdom of Saint Ursula] (fragment), El ángel de la guarda [The Guardian Angel], La

Anunciación [The ], La oración en el huerto [Prayer in the Garden], and San

Miguel Arcángel.114 These paintings are from the first half of the seventeenth century.

Based on the information found, I think the painting of San Miguel Arcángel was created by Luis Juárez for the church of Jesús María. I believe it was the main painting for the ninth altarpiece of the church dedicated to St. Michael and that El ángel de la guarda was the main panel for the second altar screen dedicated to the guardian angel. According to the description of

Sigüenza y Góngora, they were in chapels that would have faced each other across the church nave.

112 Ibid.

113 Couto, Diálogo, 31.

114 Museo Nacional de Arte, inventory, Abraham Villavicencio, e-mail message to author, 21 October 2014.

34

Figure 2-1. Luis Juárez, San Miguel Arcángel, c. 1615. Oil on wood, 172 x 153 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL), Mexico City.

Figure 2-2. Jan Brueghel the Elder, A Flemish Fair, 1600. Oil on copper, 47.6 x 68.6 cm. Royal Collection Trust, United Kingdom.

35

Figure 2-3. Luis Juárez, The Marriage of the Virgin, c. 1620-35. Oil on canvas, 83 x 57 inches (215.8 x 144.8 cm). The Davenport Museum of Art, Iowa.

Figure 2-4. Luis Juárez, El ángel de la guarda, c. 1615. Oil on wood, 173.5 x 149.5 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City.

36 CHAPTER 3 THE OLD WORLD

The Apocalypse

The scene of Saint Michael defeating the devil was significant in Europe before the discovery of the New World. It comes from the passage “The Vision of the Woman and the

Dragon,” described in the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation, the last book of the New

Testament.1 The book is attributed to John of who was on the island of Patmos when he received a revelation of Jesus.2 The Apocalypse describes different events announcing the end of the world. There is a constant struggle between good and evil. Angels condemn heresy, idolatry, lust, and all kind of sins. The devil constantly tempts and provokes suffering in humanity. At the end, good triumphs and heralds a new era in which God reigns.3 These events invite repentance and good behavior in order to be ready for the and to reach the Kingdom of God.

The passage, “The Vision of the Woman and the Dragon” explains the moment when the devil is expelled from heaven by the archangel Michael. The story says a pregnant woman with a crown of stars on her head and the moon under her feet is about to give birth. Understood as representing the devil, a red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven headbands, waits to eat the child when it is born. But the child is taken to God and his throne after his birth, and the woman flees to the desert. Then the battle in heaven begins; Michael and his angels fight and defeat the dragon and its angels. The dragon, also known as the ancient serpent, is the tempter of humanity. He is expelled from heaven and sent to earth. Salvation and the power of God now

1 “Visión de la Mujer y el Dragón,” (Apocalipsis 12: 7-9), in Gran Biblia de Jerusalén Ilustrada, vol. 10 (Mexico City: Promociones Editoriales Mexicanas, S.A. de C.V., 1980), 2446.

2 “Visión preparatoria” (Apocalipsis 1: 9-11), in Gran Biblia de Jerusalén Ilustrada, vol. 10 (Mexico City: Promociones Editoriales Mexicanas, S.A. de C.V., 1980), 2431-433.

3 (Apocalypsis), in Gran Biblia de Jerusalén Ilustrada, vol. 10 (Mexico City: Promociones Editoriales Mexicanas, S.A. de C.V., 1980), 2431-2459.

37 reign in the world. The good rejoice, but the dragon chases the woman who had given birth to the boy. The devil cannot catch the woman. As revenge, he vows to disturb the rest of the children of

God those who follow the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus.4

Saint Michael in Europe

Michael in the Scene of the Apocalypse

This passage of the has been represented in art as a battle in heaven between

Michael and the devil. It was represented in early Christianity in various parts of Europe. There are some variations but the scene is easily recognized. A winged archangel usually stands on a beastly demon and is about to pierce him with a lance.5 The devil is usually depicted as half dragon and half human, and sometimes as a horrible reptilian. Some artists tried to follow the depiction of the Apocalypse, showing him as a serpent or dragon. In some works the devil is surrounded by other demons who are also at the feet of the archangel Michael.6

The earliest representations of the scene date from around the seventh century.7 Some late medieval examples in painting may be seen in illuminated books, such as the Norman illustrated

Apocalypse dated circa 1320 (Figure 3-1). In this example Saint Michael appears at top center, dressed in robes. His left hand holds a shield with a crusader’s cross and his right hand holds a long spear that pierces the seven-headed devil. A later example is The Archangel Michael by the

Master of Castelsardo, painted between 1498 and 1500 (Figure 3-2). Here, Michael is dressed in armor, attacking the devil with a long lance and holding his shield with his left arm. He is stepping on the devil with his left foot. The devil is now a green monstrous creature with horns,

4 “Visión de la Mujer y el Dragón” (Apocalipse 12: 1-17), in Gran Biblia de Jerusalén Ilustrada, vol. 10 (Mexico City: Promociones Editoriales Mexicanas, S.A. de C.V., 1980), 2445-446.

5 Clara Erskine Clement Waters, Angels in Art (Boston: L. C. Page and Company, 1898), 57.

6 Ibid, 57-8.

7 Ibid.

38 fangs, large nipples, a tail, and chicken legs. A later example of Michael defeating Satan is the composition by Raphael, painted in 1518 (Figure 3-3). The archangel is now dressed in Roman military attire and is stepping on the devil, about to pierce him with a spear. The devil appears in human shape, but with demonic features such as horns, wings, claws, and a tail. A late example, circa 1622, near the date Juárez painted San Miguel Arcángel, is Saint Michael expelling Lucifer and the Rebellious Angels by the workshop of (Figure 3-4). Michael is depicted with a lot of movement, dressed in Roman armor and draped in red, about to strike the devil and protecting himself with a shield. The devil appears human, but pointed ears, horns, and claws demonize him. He also grasps a serpent and a flaming torch.

Spain also produced early paintings of this passage of the Apocalypse and they show an evolution in the representation of Saint Michael and the devil. One early example, Saint Michael

Fighting the Dragon, was part of an altar frontal in the Church of Soriguerola, Gerona, made in the late thirteenth century (Figure 3-5). Like in the Norman manuscript, the angel stands on the dragon, dressed in robes and piercing him with a lance. Another example similar to the Master of

Castelsardo’s is Saint Michael and the Dragon, by a Valencian painter created around 1405

(Figure 3-6). Fighting against the devil, the angel is in medieval armor, holding a sword with his right hand and a small shield with his left hand. The devil appears defeated, at bottom, in the form of a dragon. A Flemish style Saint Michael was painted by Bartolomé Bermejo in 1468

(Figure 3-7). He is dressed again in medieval armor, raising his right arm, ready to attack the devil with a sword. His left hand holds a shield. The devil is under his feet, represented as a horrible, toothy creature. A later example of Saint Michael made in Spain is Saint Michael and

Luzbel, by an anonymous painter. This is a copy of a painting by the artist Martín de Vos, whose works were imported to New Spain (Figure 3-8). Here, Michael steps on the devil with his left

39 foot. He holds a palm leaf with his left hand, and raises his right arm. He is now dressed like a

Roman soldier, with the skirt moving with the air. His breast plate is decorated with the sun and the moon. His clothing is draped in red and green. The devil is below Michael, in the shape of a male siren with wings. The original painting by Martín de Vos8 is in fact in Cuauhtitlán, Mexico, and was painted in 1581 (Figure 3-9).

All of these representations of Saint Michael defeating the demon, from around Europe and Spain, follow the same format. The archangel is always triumphant in the upper part of the composition, and the devil is defeated at the lower right. Michael is represented as a warrior. In early compositions he is dressed in imperial robes and holding a shield. He wears the triumphal band of the Byzantine emperor and on some occasions one of his hands carries insignias of royal power: the scepter and the globe. In later compositions, around the fourteenth century, Saint

Michael began being represented with military costume,9 first a medieval suit of armor and then

Roman attire with a cuirass. By the sixteenth century he was mostly dressed as a Roman soldier.

This shift from medieval military dress to Roman attire was likely due to the return of classicism.

The devil has been represented as dragon, serpent, monster, and human with demonic features.

The humanization of the devil was developed during the Renaissance, also as a result of classicism. In all his representations, the devil is ugly and intended to represent evil, temptation, and sin. This representation of the Apocalypse and its meaning of the battle and triumph over evil and preparation for the end of the world was brought to New Spain by missionaries. Apart from appearing in imported works such as that by de Vos, it was also represented in painting and

8 Martín de Vos was a Flemish artist born in in 1532. He worked in Italy and was a and collaborator of Tintoretto. He adopted the Mannerist style in Italy. His works were imported to the New Spain. In Mexico he was a strong influence and many paintings are inspired from his engravings. Francisco de la Maza, El Pintor Martín de Vos en México (Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1971), 8-9, 16.

9 Mujica Pinilla, Ángeles apócrifos, 125.

40 sculpture by Mexican artists and became an important theme in colonial Mexican colonial visual culture. In painting, it was represented from the beginning of the colony until the last years of

Spanish domination.

Significance and Iconography

Saint Michael occupies an important place in Christianity. He is considered to be the protector of heaven, conqueror of the devil, general captain and leader of the celestial army, and patron saint of the church militant.10 He is believed to be the guardian of those souls who have struggled against evil and won, and the conductor of those spirits to heaven.11 By the first half of the seventeenth century, the Jesuit friar Juan Eusebio Nieremberg located this archangel high in the celestial hierarchy, comparing him to the sun and claiming that he excelled above the rest of the angels.12 According to Nieremberg, Michael is inferior only to God and the Virgin Mary and he is the most beloved and most beautiful of all celestial beings.13

Christianity holds a celestial hierarchy established by around

500 AD. He identified nine orders of angels, grouped into three ranks or choirs. In the first rank are the seraphim, cherubim, and thrones; in the second rank are the dominions, powers, and authorities; and in the third rank are the principalities, archangels, and angels.14 Later, Thomas

Aquinas assigned each rank a specific relationship to God and humans. The first rank was dedicated to the worship of God performed face to face; the second rank was committed to

10 Waters, Angels, 48.

11 Ibid, 68, 70.

12 Eduardo Báez Macías, El arcángel San Miguel: su patrocinio, la ermita en el Santo Desierto de Cuajimalpa y el Santuario de Tlaxcala (México D. F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1979), 9-10.

13 Ibid, 9, 11.

14 Nancy Grubb, Angels in Art (New York: Artabras, 1995), 7. Dionysius the Areopagite was a Christian Neoplatonist who wrote about philosophy and theology in the late fifth and early sixth century AD; Kevin Corrigan and Michael Harrington, “Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite,” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014): http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-dionysius-areopagite/

41 knowing God through contemplation of the universe; and the third rank was in charge of human affairs. In this third rank, the principalities took care of nations; the archangels interacted with humans in special circumstances; and angels were guardians of individuals.15 As an archangel,

Michael occupied the third rank of Dionysius’ hierarchy and his task was taking care of humanity.

The archangel Michael, together with and Raphael, is mentioned in the Bible; the cult of the archangels was accepted by the Council of in 745 and the Council of Aachen in

789. Four other archangels (Uriel, Barachiel, Jehudiel, and Sealtiel) have also been worshiped, but are considered apocryphal.16 Michael’s main attributes are a sword, a palm frond, a scale, a scepter, and a cross. He is often represented standing on the heads of angels or clouds and defeating the devil, who is sometimes accompanied by his group of fallen angels.17 In the Bible, he is cited in the Book of as the first main prince and protector of the people of . In the , the Letter of Jude describes him as an archangel. In the Book of Revelation, as mentioned earlier, Michael leads other angels to defeat the devil who is in the guise of a dragon.18 Gabriel is another archangel mentioned in the Bible. He is recognized as the strength of

God. His attributes are lilies and a mirror, symbols of the purity of the Virgin Mary.19 In the

Bible, he is known as the messenger. He is sent to help the prophet Daniel interpret the meaning of a vision. Later, he informs Daniel about the coming of the Messiah. He also announces to

Zechariah that will be born. His most important mission is to announce to the

15 Grubb, Angels, 7.

16 Báez Macías, El arcángel San Miguel, 13.

17 Ibid.

18 Rosa Giorgi, in Art (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003), 274.

19 Báez Macías, El arcángel San Miguel, 13.

42 Virgin Mary the incarnation of Christ.20 Raphael, the third biblical archangel, is known as the medicine of God. His attribute is a fish or the child Tobias holding his hand.21 In the Bible, he appears in the Book of Tobit. He guides and protect Tobias on his journey and cures the blindness of his father Tobit.22 The feast day of the three archangels (Michael, Gabriel, and

Raphael) is September 29.23

There are various texts dedicated to St. Michael. They mainly describe his miracles, his support in war, and his relation to the European monarchy. The Golden Legend, a book of hagiographies written in 1264 by the Dominican friar Jacobus de Voragine, explains the apparitions, victories, miracles, and commemoration of Saint Michael.24 The first of five apparitions took place in the year 390 AD, on Mount , Italy. Michael diverted a poisoned arrow that Gargano, an inhabitant of that land, threw to his lost ox, outraged by the animal’s behavior. The ox was at a cave entrance when Gargano tried to shoot it. Michael wanted to let him know that he was the guardian archangel of the cave. The second apparition was to the Bishop of Avranches in 710. Michael asked the bishop to construct a church in the city of Tumba and celebrate him every October 16th. The third apparition was in Rome, in the time of Pope Gregory I. The archangel Michael was revealed through a sculpture. The fourth apparition was a clarification of hierarchies in which three groups of angels (Epiphany or higher apparition, Hyperphany or middle apparition, and Hypophany or lower apparition) appeared together, creating a hierarchy of angels. The fifth apparition was in a town near Constantinople,

20 Giorgi, Saints in Art, 140.

21 Báez Macías, El arcángel San Miguel, 13.

22 Giorgi, Saints in Art, 317.

23 Ibid, 274.

24 Santiago de la Vorágine, La Leyenda Dorada, vol. 2, trad., Fray José Manuel Macías (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, S. A., 1982), 15.

43 in the temple of Michaleon. An ill man was healed when he visited the church dedicated to

Michael.25

De Voragine credits four victories to the archangel Michael. In the first victory, Michael helped the people of Siponto, Italy win a battle against the Neapolitans. When the people from

Naples surrendered, they abandoned idolatry. In the second victory, Michael expelled Lucifer and his angels from heaven, the event described in the Apocalypse. The third victory is the daily triumph over evil and temptation. In the fourth victory, Michael destroyed the .26 In the dedication, de Voragine says the people of Siponto thank Saint Michael for their triumph over the Neapolitans. They thought about constructing and dedicating a church to the archangel, but he had already constructed and dedicated one to himself.27 To commemorate Saint Michael, de

Voragine says Saint Michael and all the angels should be venerated regularly because they take souls to heaven, are guardians, and comfort the afflicted.28

The Jesuit clerics Juan Eusebio Nieremberg and Francisco García wrote treatises with the intention of spreading the cult of Saint Michael. Even though these manuscripts postdate the

Juárez painting, they are significant because show the high status that Michael enjoyed, a status that the he had from time earlier not only in heaven, but in earth. The texts draw parallels between the Spanish political system and the celestial hierarchy of St. Michael. The archangel was considered the protector of Spain and had a strong relationship with the Spanish monarchy.29

Both priests gave the archangel important celestial titles related to nobility, and mentioned

25 Ibid, 621-25.

26 Ibid, 625-26.

27 Ibid, 626-27.

28 Ibid, 627.

29 Ramón Mujica Pinilla, Ángeles apócrifos en la América virreinal, 2a ed., corregida y ampliada (Lima: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1996), 94.

44 miracles he performed and favors he granted. Nieremberg was a theologian and polygraphist, born in Madrid to German parents in 1595.30 In 1643, he wrote De la devoción y patrocinio de

San Miguel, príncipe de los angeles antiguo tutelar de los Godos, y protector de España

[Devotion and Patronage of Saint Michael, Prince of Angels, old Tutelary of the Goths, and

Protector of Spain]. In his text, Nieremberg says that Saint Michael was acclaimed by Caesar and was considered the first king of the Goths. He was considered the Prince of the Angels. He was chosen by God to humiliate his enemies and to rule with justice in heaven, make justice with souls, clean nations of sin, and clean heaven of guilt. The archangel was also thought to protect the monarchy, pacify its kingdoms, and tidy its provinces.31 Nieremberg also included favors some nations received from Saint Michael. Since ancient times, the angel helped populations obtain victories. He favored the Maccabees and several times fought himself to help them obtain victory against enemies. The people of Siponto fasted for Saint Michael and achieved three victories. The king Reccared I, with his court and the Catholics in Toledo, Spain, fasted for three days in 589 AD to honor Saint Michael. Reccared was a Visigoth ruler who, after fasting, converted from Arianism to Catholicism.32

According to Nieremberg, Saint Michael and Saint James favored Spain. Before the

Arabs arrived, Michael was protector of the Goths and head of the Spanish Empire. After the arrival of the Arabs, the patron saint was Santiago (or ). With the help of

30 Antonio Pérez Goyena, "Juan Eusebio Nieremberg y Otin," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911) 6 Jan. 2015, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11072c.htm.

31 Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, De la devoción y patrocinio de San Miguel, Principe de los Angeles, antiguo tutelar de los Godos, y protector de España, en que se proponen sus grandes excelencias, y titulos que ay para implorar su patrocinio (Madrid: por María de Quiñones, 1643), http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucm.5322462218;view= 1up;seq=5.

32 Ibid.

45 Santiago the Moors were expelled from Spain.33 The Council of Toledo (1582-1583) renewed its devotion to Saint Michael in order to protect the nation against heresy. After their expulsion there was no danger of the Moors in Spain, but heresy was still a latent menace. This is why

Michael was venerated as patron saint: so he could give needed protection. Nieremberg also asked for a procession to Saint Michael every May 8th (the day he appeared to King Reccared) in all cities, villages, and colonies of Spain.34

The Spanish priest Francisco García wrote in 1684 El primer Ministro de Dios San

Miguel Arcángel consagrado a la emperatriz de los cielos y de la tierra, María Madre de Dios

[The Prime Minister of God Archangel Michael Devoted to the Empress of Heaven and Earth,

Mary, Mother of God]. The friar also explained the importance of the archangel Michael in the

Christian world and gave the important titles applied to him. According to García, Francis

Xavier, the co-founder of the Society of Jesus, had a friendly relationship with Saint Michael.35

He explained that once, when Saint Francis was giving mass on the day of the feast of the archangel, there was an earthquake on the island where he was missionary. It was thought to have been provoked by the imprisonment of the demons of hell by Michael. Also, when Francis arrived in Japan to evangelize, he took Saint Michael as support for his conversion mission.36

García also provides the different titles given to Saint Michael: Prime Minister of God, Celestial

Prince and Prime Minister of the Eternal King, The One who is like God (in Juárez’s painting his banner states “who is like God”), Governor of the Kingdom of God, General Captain of the

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid.

35 Francisco García, El primer ministro de Dios San Miguel arcángel consagrado a la Emperatriz de los Cielos, y de la tierra Maria, Madre de Dios (Madrid: Por Juan García Infancon, 1684), prologue.

36 Ibid, A3.

46 Army of God, Prince of the Heavenly Host, Prince of the Wise from Heaven, Maximum Master of the Church, and Highest Justice of God.37

These texts testify to the high level of appreciation that the archangel Michael had in

Christian Europe, especially in Spain. He was a central figure not only in Catholicism, but also in the political system. This significance was spread to the Spanish colonies where Michael also became an important figure.

As seen in the survey of European depictions of Saint Michael, by the sixteenth century he was shown dressed as a Roman soldier. In the Juárez work he wears a navy-blue breast plate with golden ornaments, skirt, and sandals. All those elements were used by the Roman military, and in the western tradition, parallels were drawn between the celestial and terrestrial soldier.

Michael represented a soldier of a Catholic empire, fighting against heresy, idolatry, the antichrist and vice, while the terrestrial soldier performed the same mission on earth.38

The archangel Michael also became symbol of the Society of Jesus. The religious order was founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1540. Ignatius himself was a Spanish soldier who dedicated himself to religious life after being wounded in a battle. The Jesuits identified themselves with Michael, since they considered themselves also to be at the service of God on earth. They took Michael’s image as their banner for evangelization, which was used in the New

World.39

37 Ibid, 1, 2, 5, 9, 13, 16, 20, 24.

38 Mujica Pinilla, Ángeles apócrifos, 113, 125.

39 “La Lechuga,” Museo Nacional del Prado online, accessed January 15, 2015, https://www.museodelprado.es/exposiciones/info/en-el-museo/la-obra-invitada-emla-lechugaem/la-obra/.

47 The Devil in Europe

In Christianity, the devil was a beautiful angel created by God. But such beauty made this angel fall into arrogance. He intended to challenge the power and authority of God, but no one could be at the same level as the creator. As punishment, he was expelled from heaven by the

Archangel Michael.40 The , dating as early as 500 BC, includes this information on the fall of the devil. It was considered a sacred text and was part of the Bible, but was removed from the canon by the fourth century AD.41 After his expulsion from heaven, the beautiful angel became a fallen angel and the prince of darkness. He is believed to tempt humanity to commit sin.42 As told in the Book of Genesis, the devil tempted to commit original sin. In the guise of a serpent, he convinced her to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, from which Adam also ate.43

Jesus and the saints were also tempted by the devil.44 Idolatry, or false worship, was also seen as a provocation by the devil or simply as a cult to this demon. The act of adoring other deities signified being away from God and from the true religion.45

The devil has been known by different names: the devil, Satan, Demon, and Lucifer.

According to Luther Link, these words originally had quite different meanings, but later became the same thing. This overlapping of meanings was caused by mistakes in translation and misperceptions of the terms used by the in the New Testament, and also by the confusion of later writers like Dante Alighieri. The word Satan comes from the Hebrew that

40 Báez Macías, El arcángel San Miguel, 9.

41 Link, The Devil, 27.

42 Giorgi, Angels and Demons in Art, 74.

43 “La caída” (Génesis 3: 1-7), in Gran Biblia de Jerusalén Ilustrada, vol. 1 (México: editoriales Mexicanas, S.A. de C.V., 1980), 6.

44 Giorgi, Angels and Demons in Art, 74.

45 Mujica Pinilla, Ángeles apócrifos, 28-9.

48 meant adversary. In the Old Testament Book of Job, Satan is not anyone’s name, just a title. The word diabolos in Greek meant accuser or slanderer. In Latin, this word was rendered as diabolus.

In English this word is translated as devil, which comes from the Latin diabolus.46 In the New

Testament, Mark called the tempter of Jesus Satan; Matthew and Luke called him diabolos (the devil).47 After this, later writers and translators started to use these two words interchangeably, with the same meaning. In the Book of Revelation (12:9), Satan became the devil: “And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world…”48

The word demon also became problematic. A daimon was an intermediary spirit between gods and men. It was usually the spirit of a dead hero. It also meant man’s genius. Another meaning was an evil and possessing spirit; this was the meaning used in the New Testament and by early priests. In the second and third centuries, the Hellenized Alexandrian Apologists interpreted Platonic demons as the devil’s fallen angels. This is how demons became associated with the devil.49 Something similar happened with Lucifer. This word does not appear in the

Bible as the devil’s name. It means “bringing light,” and originally referred to the planet Venus, the morning star. But in Inferno, Dante describes Lucifer as an ugly monster. For Dante, Lucifer and Satan were the same. This connection of Lucifer with Satan came from Isaiah (14:12). He wrote: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!”50 Isaiah referred to an ambitious Babylonian king who had fallen in the underworld, and this tyrannical king was later

46 Link, The Devil, 19.

47 Ibid, 22.

48 “The Apocalypse Of Saint John (Revelation),” Douay-Rheims Bible+Calloner Notes (http://drbo.org/chapter/73012.htm). Link 22.

49 Link, The Devil, 19-20.

50 Ibid, 23.

49 identified as the devil.51 Satan, demon, and Lucifer became other names for the devil which were ultimately interchangeable.

Iconography

As mentioned in Chapter 1 and in the previous section on the Apocalypse, the representation of the devil has changed throughout time. Its shape transformed according to the influences of the time and the creativity of the artist. In general terms, the devil is represented as a monstrous creature; he was first represented as a dragon or as a hybrid beast, and lastly took on a human form. This evolution of the devil’s representation in art will be discussed in this section.

The devil’s features come from ancient cultures, taking elements from different deities of ancient Greece, Egypt, China, and other Eastern and Middle Eastern religions. According to

Link, there were no representations of the devil in Christian painting before the seventh century.52 The first Christian paintings are in catacombs in Rome, but the figure of the devil is absent. There may have been confusion over the concept of the devil, and the figure lacked a pictorial model. Christian art flourished between 500 and 800, but the devil did not yet appear.

He first appeared in the ninth century where he was shown with the face of the Greek god Pan and a human body clad only in animal skins. The devil also appeared in the form of a dragon, especially in his two main roles: the dragon the archangel Michael defeated in the Apocalypse and in the Last Judgment, where he appears punishing and tormenting sinners. Those compositions appeared in medieval art and continued in later Christian art.53

It was not until the Renaissance that the devil was depicted with a largely human shape.

Many of the features used to represent the devil that came from the Greek deity Pan continued to

51 Ibid, 22-3.

52 Ibid, 72.

53 Ibid, 40.

50 be used,54 such as the pointed goat-like ears, a dense beard, horns, hoofs, tail, and hairy lower body.55 He appeared in some medieval psalters (such as in the Utrecht and Winchester Psalters) with cave-man skirts. This was a sign of being uncivilized and wild. This kind of skirt probably came from paintings of Greek plays including satyrs played by performers in skirts.56 There were also representations of the devil with flaming hair, often seen in Romanesque cathedrals. This characteristic could have been taken from Bes, a dwarf deity probably from Nubia and popular in

Egypt between 1500 and 1000 BC.57 He was also shown with talons instead of hoofs. These came from harpies or other creatures represented in Sasanian art.58 Between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, he began to be illustrated with wings, similar to the ones worn by angels, but blackened, shortened, and ragged. In the fourteenth century he began to appear with black bat- ribbed wings that made a dramatic contrast with the white, feathered, and beautiful wings of angels.59 From the eleventh to sixteenth century he was also represented as a dragon or a grotesque beast: sometimes with horns or claws, and sometimes quasi-human.60 The devil has also been represented with dark skin or fur. In many occasions he has been painted black and naked. This served to contrast him with the beautiful white of the angels. Black was used to

54 Pan is a Greek god of nature. In ancient sculpture he was represented as half man-half goat. He has been demonized because of his terrifying aspects and because he was considered to have a strong sexual instinct; James Hillman, Pan y la pesadilla (Girona, España: Ediciones Atlanta, S. L., 2007), 22, 32.

55 Link, The Devil, 44-5.

56 Ibid, 59-60.

57 Ibid, 61, 64.

58 Ibid, 68.

59 Ibid, 67.

60 Ibid, 38.

51 represent evil and pollution, but this color could also have come from and Nubian deities, such as Anubis, who was a black jackal.61

At the beginning of the fifteen century, representations of the devil started to be more humanized, but still with ugly features.62 In the Renaissance, the devil was depicted nude. While the heroic nude was admired, in the devil, nudity took on the negative quality of nakedness. This nakedness was related to the classical pagan gods who, despite Renaissance classicism, were considered devils. Nakedness was also a symbol of degradation and humiliation in medieval and

Renaissance Europe.63 In the fifteenth century, the theme of the rebel angels began,64 and it was fully developed in the sixteenth century. The devil became more and more human.65

Representation of the devil continued in two different branches. The monstrous devil who separated the blessed from the damned in scenes of the Last Judgment continued into the seventeenth century. The other, more humanized devil, continued to be represented until the eighteenth century, and is commonly seen in the Michael-against-the devil theme.66 In sum, the devil has been represented in various guises. Even though some characteristics were added at specific times, the representation had many variations. We see the devil with or without wings, with or without fur, with or without horns, and with or without a tail, even when painted in the

61 Ibid, 52-3.

62 Giorgi, Angels and Demons in Art, 247.

63 Link, The Devil, 56.

64 The rebel angels are those angels who joined the devil in the battle against God. According to the Bible and Christian tradition, they were also good angels who became evil, rebelling against God. They also tempted humans to commit sin. Rebel angels have been represented in semi-human form with negative animal features (as it has been mentioned in the devil: horns, bat’s wings, talons, tail, and hairy body). Giorgi, Angels and Demons in Art, 236.

65 Link, The Devil, 73.

66 Ibid.

52 same time period. Depictions depended on the creativity of the artist, and artists were free to represent the devil in different ways.67 There were no specific rules of how to paint the devil.

The following sections are useful to understand the mentality that started taking shape in medieval Europe and lasted for centuries. This mentality affected the perception of non-Christian religions which were misunderstood and by consequence seen as menacing. These misperceptions were not only held in Europe, but they were carried to the New World with the conquerors and missionaries who misunderstood indigenous beliefs and tried to eradicate them.

Anti-superstition Treatises

In Europe, people who were not Christians were seen as “others.” These individuals were usually seen as idolaters or heretics, and therefore were demonized, seen as menacing beings.

This mentality started at the beginning of Christianity. Anti-superstition treatises influenced this thinking. Some were written in classical times, others at the beginning of Christianity, and others in later times. For example, Cicero said humans have an irrational fear of the supernatural. The way to avoid this fear was to respect the gods and to comprehend nature. This respect consisted of avoiding the adoration of false gods.68 For Saint Augustine of Hippo, superstition included idolatry and folk practices. Beside the worship of false gods, it included divination, astrology, fertility rituals, healing rites, the use of love amulets, and other forms of magic. He said supplicating an idol could only have effect with the aid of demons.69 These ideas influenced future theologians, such as Jean Gerso, who wrote De erroribus circa artem magicam [Errors

67 Ibid, 38.

68 Andrew, The Devil in the Old World, 18.

69 Ibid.

53 about Magic] in 1402. Gerso said the most minimal contact with demons signified entering into a pact with Satan.70

Two texts of the early modern campaign against superstition were written by the

Spaniards Martín de Castañega and Pedro Ciruelo. Castañega wrote Tratado de las supersticiones y hechizerías [Treaty of Superstition and Witchcraft], published in 1529; and in

1530, Ciruelo published Reprobación de las supersticiones y hechizerías [Disapproval of

Superstition and Witchcraft]. Both works were anti-superstition treatises directed to an academically educated elite. They interpreted superstition as something similar to witchcraft, as a demonic pact, and as a form of idolatry.71 One of the most influential anti-superstition treatises of the early modern era was by Martín de Azpilcueta. His Manual de confesores y penitentes

[Handbook for Confessors and Penitents] written in 1554 warns readers that superstition and false religion are the greatest of all mortal sins because they are forbidden by the first commandment. He declares Jewish rites pernicious because they deny the divinity of Christ.72 In

1615, the Jesuit Tomás Sánchez wrote Opus morale in praecepta decalogi [Work in Moral

Precepts]. His work defined superstition as a form of idolatry and as a breaking of the first commandment.73 Superstition was a concern among Christian intellectuals, but the focus on their eradication did not begin until the early modern period. Campaigns were begun to educate the laity about the dangers of superstition. Confessors were in charge of identifying and correcting superstitious practices. When they observed beliefs and practices that could be considered

70 Ibid, 19.

71 Ibid, 20.

72 Ibid, 21.

73 Ibid.

54 heresy, the person involved fell under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. In the sixteenth century,

Spanish inquisitors became ever more involved in prosecuting cases of superstition.74

Idolatry

Idolatry is the worship of idols or false gods, and, as seen above, it was a concern since ancient times. The Book of Enoch says “And all the idols of the heathen shall be abandoned, And the Temples burned with fire.”75 Idolatry also appears constantly in the Old Testament.76 There was a belief that the devil inhabited the idols, and this idea comes from early Christians who detested sacrificial rituals performed by pagans. Some erasing of idols in manuscripts happened not because of fear of the gods, but because of the perceived presence of the devil within the figures.77 There was also a belief that those who prayed to idols obeyed devils, and idols could manipulate the worshiper.78 Idols have been attributed with communicative capacities and sometimes seen as oracles. Their capacities to communicate varied according to their shapes and gestures.79 Idols could look innocent, but were considered not to be. They were implicated in obtaining power and dominance. From early times, Christians reassigned new meanings to images they considered pagan. When they represented idols, they distorted them and transformed classical gods into devils.80

74 Ibid, 19.

75 R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921.

76 Michael Camille, The Gothic Idol: Ideology and Image-making in Medieval Art (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), XXV.

77 Ibid, 58.

78 Ibid, 60.

79 Ibid, 69.

80 Ibid, 73-4.

55 There is a religious passage related to idolatry that shows how idols were seen by

Christians in the past. This is the “Fall of Idols during the Flight into Egypt,”81 described in the

Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, an apocryphal text. The episode says that the Holy Family went to the region of Hermopolis, and arrived in the city Sotinen. They entered a temple called “Capitol of Egypt” that housed 365 idols honored with idolatrous rites. When the Virgin Mary entered the temple with the Christ child in her arms, all the idols started falling to the ground and were totally destroyed. They showed the idols were nothing in their presence.82 In numerous artistic representations of this passage, the idols were demonized and humiliated. One example is a drawing of an eleventh century manuscript from Paris where the idols appear naked and at the feet of Mary and the Christ Child. They are making reverence and worshiping the new, true God because they know they will be overthrown (Figure 3-10).83 Other representations of this passage showed the idols falling and inverted. A figure turned upside down had negative meanings. It suggested negation, fallen angels, tyrants overthrown, and vice. An example is in the

Romanesque relief on the south portal at Moissac, France, carved about 1125 (Figure 3-11). The two idols are not depicted as statues, but as clothed human figures, falling to the left as if pushed by a force. The figure on the far left is upside-down, and the other is toppling over.84 Another example appears in a Psalter made around 1230 in Paris (Figure 3-12). In it, the idol (in the guise of a devil, with horns and hoofs) is falling off his pedestal in the presence of the Holy Family.85

These three examples represent idols, and all these depictions had negative meanings.

81 Ibid, 1.

82 Ibid.

83 Ibid, 4-5.

84 Ibid, 5.

85 Ibid, 1.

56 Idols and Idolaters

Through history, many groups or communities have been seen as idolaters because their beliefs differed from those of the Christian religion. These people have been called heathens, idolaters, devil worshipers, infidels, and barbarians. There is an infinite list of peoples who were seen as idolaters in the past by Christians. It includes Egyptians, Cathars, Hebrews, Romans,

Greeks, Muslims, and others. They were accused of adoring false gods or idols and have been included in sacred texts as infidels. One example is the Hebrews, who were accused of idolatry in their own holy text, the Old Testament. The Book of Exodus tells the story of the adoration of the Golden Calf by the Hebrews. According to the story, after the release of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, Moses climbed a mountain to take the tablets with the Ten Commandments and there spent forty days and forty nights.86 In Moses’ absence, his brother Aaron created a golden calf that the people of Israel started to adore. God was upset because they were worshiping a false personification and making offerings and performing sacrifices to the new idol.87 Michael

Camille explains in The Gothic Idol that in the , Egypt was perceived as a depraved nation of idol worship. When the Hebrews adored the Golden Calf, Moses rescued his people from the “land of darkness.”88 The Cathars were another group accused of idolatry by the

Christians; they were accused of worshipping the devil in the shape of a black cat. Pope Innocent

III intended to destroy them with the Albigensian Crusade of 1209-29.89 In early Christianity,

86 “The Release of Egypt” (Exodus 24:12-18), in Gran Biblia de Jerusalén Ilustrada, vol. 1 (México: Promociones Editoriales Mexicanas, S.A. de C.V., 1980), 140.

87 “Golden Calf and Covenant Renewal” (Exodus 32: 1-10), in Gran Biblia de Jerusalén Ilustrada, vol. 1 (México: Promociones Editoriales Mexicanas, S.A. de C.V., 1980), 152.

88 Camille, The Gothic Idol, 2.

89 Ibid, 12.

57 many groups were accused of idolatry, and this issue continued in the Middle Ages. Like

Cathars, Jews and Muslims were also persecuted, being accused of idolatry.90

Before 1492 Christians, Muslims, and Jews inhabited Spain and were often allowed to practice their own faiths, under the system known as convivencia. But a series of started in 1095, headed by Christian popes, looking to force Muslims to leave .

Christians considered that territory Holy Land, and could not leave it in the hands of heathens.91

In Spain, a series of campaigns against Muslims resulted in the conquest of Antequera in 1410, the victory at La Higeruela in 1413, and the taking of Gibraltar in 1462.92 But it was not until

1492 with the fall of Granada that all Muslims were expelled from Spain under the rule of

Ferdinand and Isabella. This event was known as the Reconquista [Reconquest].93 Jews and

Muslims who did not convert to Christianity were seen as infidels and were persecuted and expelled from the country.

Like Muslims, Jews also were persecuted in earlier times and expelled from the country.

In 1391 there was a massacre of thousands of Jews in Castile and Aragon. Jewish communities in the surrounding areas were also destroyed and their synagogues were turned into churches.94

Many Jews converted to Christianity in order to save themselves. They were called conversos, but although they became Christians, old Christians accused them of secretly maintaining their

Jewish beliefs.95 The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1483 in order to convict the heretics.

90 Ibid, 13.

91 Atlas of the World History, ed. Kate Santon and Liz McKay (United Kingdom: Parragon Publishing, 2005), 94-5.

92 Joseph F. O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1975), 667.

93 Ibid, 669.

94 Ibid, 536-37.

95 Ibid, 537.

58 After the surrender of Granada in 1492, an edict was distributed ordering Jews to accept baptism or leave the kingdom. Most of them elected to live in exile.96

According to Christianity, Saint Michael fought against the devil to eliminate idolatry.

The battle between Christians and heathens could be interpreted as a battle led by Saint Michael.

Defeating the devil signified overthrowing idolatry. In the Bible, the Apocalypse relates to the end of a dark age and the beginning of a new era. After the Reconquista, Spain may have identified itself with this moment; since after the fall of Granada, the Catholic kings could spread the Catholic religion throughout their territories, beginning a new era. New lands were discovered and Spain took possession of those. The fight between Christians and heathens would continue, but now in the New World. The Spanish colonizers faced a new people and a new religion that did not fit the parameters of Christianity. The Aztecs, an indigenous people who ruled an empire from the city of Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City, were defeated by Spanish conquerors. The ideas the Spanish had related to superstition and idolatry made them perceive the Aztecs as heathens and their deities as idols, which soon were also represented as demons.

The image of Michael defeating the devil was still significant. But this time, Michael fought the

“devils” of Aztec beliefs.

96 Ibid, 671.

59

F

Figure 3-1. Detail of War in Heaven. Norman, c. 1320. From The Apocalypse. Color, gold, silver, and brown ink on vellum, 12 1/8 x 9 inches (30.7 x 23 cm) overall. The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Cloisters Collection. New York.

Figure 3-2. Master of Castelsardo, The Archangel Michael (detail), from the Retablo di Tuili, 1498-1500. Tuili, San Pietro.

60

Figure 3-3. Raphael, Saint Michael Trampling the Dragon, 1518. Oil on canvas, 106 3/8 x 63 inches (270 x 160 cm). Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Figure 3-4. Workshop of Rubens, Saint Michael Expelling Lucifer and the Rebellious Angels, ca. 1622. Oil on canvas, 149 x 126 cm (58.7 x 49.6 in). Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid.

61

Figure 3-5. Saint Michael Fighting the Dragon. Altar frontal from Church of Soriguerola (Gerona), late 13th century. Museum of Catalan Art, Barcelona.

Figure 3-6. Saint Michael and the Dragon, Spanish Valencian Painter, ca. 1405. Tempera on wood, gold ground. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

62

Figure 3-7. Bartolomé Bermejo, Archangel Michael, 1468. Oil and gold on wood, 179 x 82 cm. National Gallery, London.

Figure 3-8. Saint Michael and Luzbel, copy of a painting by Martín de Vos. Original from Parroquia de la Cuesta, Soria, now in the Museo de Burgo de Osma, Soria, Spain.

63

Figure 3-9. Martín de Vos, Saint Michael, 1581. Oil on wood. Cuautitlán, Mexico.

Figure 3-10. Flight into Egypt, 11th century. MS. Lat. 12117 (Annals of Saint-Germain-des- Prés), fol. 108r. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.

64

Figure 3-11. Flight into Egypt, c. 1125. South porch of the narthex, east wall. Moissac, St. Pierre.

Figure 3-12. Fall of Idols, c. 1230. Leaf from a Psalter. Hart 20960, fol. 3v. Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, United Kingdom.

65 CHAPTER 4 THE NEW WORLD

The Spanish Conquest

In Europe, non-Christians were seen as “others” and were persecuted by the Catholic

Church. After Europeans invaded America, Native Amerindians were also seen as others. In

Spain, the heathens were Muslims and Jews. However, when Spaniards arrived in Mexico, they perceived the Aztecs as idolaters. The ideas of “otherness,” false worship, and European superiority were brought to the New World by European conquerors, explorers, and missionaries. The ideas arrived in the New World along with the well-known scene from the biblical passage of the Apocalypse, Saint Michael defeating the devil. Soon after the conquest, this scene became common, now with the additional connotations of Aztec idolatry.

After the Reconquista, Spain enjoyed economic growth. From medieval times, various kingdoms had far-reaching trade connections with other sites in the world. Seville, Barcelona, and Valencia were important centers that exported and imported products around the

Mediterranean. The crowns of Aragon and Castile had commercial relations with North Africa, the Western Mediterranean, and northwest Europe.1 Wider Spain maintained important trade along the Atlantic coast with Flanders, in the Netherlands.2 Queen Isabella supported the long- established activities in the Atlantic and made efforts to gain firmer control of them.3 In January

1492, the monarchs accepted the proposal of Christopher Columbus, an explorer from Genoa, to reach Asia by sailing west around Africa.4 After the fall of Granada, the monarchs were in a

1 Ibid, 84.

2 Ibid, 88.

3 Ibid, 117.

4 Ibid, 120.

66 better position to fund the adventure proposed by Columbus.5 The miscalculations of the sailor took him to an island in the Bahamas that the Indians called Guanahaní by October 12 that same year.6 Columbus arrived at this new land, later called America, but was convinced he was in

Asia.7 The moment he arrived in the American islands, he took possession of the territory in the name of the King and Queen.8 Generations of explorers followed and the Crown gave permission to explore and settle in its name.9 During the reign of Carlos V, Spain continued to expand its empire in the Americas. Hernán Cortés, who belonged to the lower nobility from Western

Castile, arrived in Mexico in 1519 and in Carlos’s name conquered the Aztec Empire.10

The Aztecs

The Aztec Empire was the last of the Mesoamerican civilizations. The ruling group, the

Mexica, inhabited the city of Tenochtitlan, founded in 1345, in central Mexico.11 The Aztec state was a place of warriors. War and religion were central in the life of this culture. They were linked to one another and sacrifice was involved in these two practices.12 But these practices and their associated beliefs were not maintained by all of Aztec society.13 Battles to gain captives and the sacrifice of those captives were practiced only by the nobility; commoners were not involved.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid, 121; Christopher Columbus, “Thursday, October 11,” in The Journal: Account of the First Voyage and Discovery of the Indies. Rome: Istituto poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Libreria dello Stato, 1992, 44.

7 Phillips, A Concise History, 121.

8 Columbus, “Thursday, October 11,” 41.

9 Phillips, A Concise History, 134.

10 Ibid, 138.

11 Mary Ellen Miller, The Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec (New York: Thames & Hudson world of art, 2006), 210-11.

12 Michael D. Coe, Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs (London: Thames & Hudson, 2002), 203.

13 Elizabeth M. Brumfiel, “Huitzilopochtli’s Conquest: Aztec Ideology in the Archaeological Record,” Cambridge Archaeological Journal, volume 8, issue 01, April 1998: 6-7.

67 The Great Temple, where the religious ceremonies took part, was walled, therefore, commoners did not have access to it. The wider populace may not have identified with the shrines and the monumental sculptures of gods that were at the base of the temple. They instead created small, moulded ceramic figurines that may have been used for their rituals.14

But for the nobility, ceremonies related to war and sacrifice were primordial and part of their ruling ideology.

The Aztec empire collected tribute to pay many of the necessities of the ruler. Part of this tribute was used for furnishing the feathered costumes of warriors and other luxury articles used to reward soldiers for outstanding accomplishments.15 It was expected that every man knew how to use arms. The most glorious acts were to gain captives in the battlefields or die for the patron god Huitzilopochtli.16 The Aztec warriors’ most common weapons were sword-clubs with obsidian blades on the sides, known as macanas, spears, and darts thrown from atlatls or spearthrowers. The knightly order of warriors dressed with magnificent costumes of jaguar skins or suits with eagle feathers. The troops sometimes dressed in quilted cotton tunics. They carried round shields of wood or reeds covered with hide and decorated with colorful designs in feathers.17 Warriors were destined to die in war, transform into hummingbirds, and join the Sun

God in a celestial paradise.18 Religion and warfare were linked to the natural cycles that maintained human life. The Aztecs understood that human life depended on cycles, like birth and death, day and night, and summer and winter. They believed that they were responsible for

14 Ibid, 7.

15 Ibid, 4.

16 Coe, Mexico, 203.

17 Ibid, 204.

18 Coe, Mexico 205.

68 keeping these cycles functioning constantly and needed to make the sun rise daily. To maintain the sun rising every day, it needed to be nourished with hearts and blood of sacrificial victims, especially those captured on battles.19 On the battlefield, the main idea was not to destroy the enemy, but to capture opponents and transport them to the capital for sacrifice.20

Aztec religion was ruled by a cosmic principle of duality, a unity of opposites.21

Everything in the Aztec world was controlled by two contrary complementary sides that permitted the earth to have equilibrium and continue its natural cycles. This permitted humans to continue with their lives. The most common opposite pairs were male and female, life and death, sky and earth, day and night, fire and water, sun and moon, and zenith and nadir.22 According to

Aztec philosophy, the world would end in catastrophe. Four previous eras had already ended with disaster: the Jaguar-Sun era was destroyed by an invasion of jaguars; the Wind-Sun era ended with a hurricane; the Rain-Sun era was devastated by a rain of fire; and the Water-Sun era was finished by a giant flood. The Fifth Sun era, in which the Aztecs were living, was predestined to end with earthquakes.23 As mentioned earlier, human sacrifice was essential to maintain equilibrium and avoid the end of the sun that would bring destruction of the earth. The blood of victims would feed the gods and perpetuate life on earth.24

19 Brumfield, Huitzilopochtli’s Conquest, 4-5.

20 Coe, Mexico, 204.

21 Ibid, 205.

22 Mary Miller and Karl Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2007), 81.

23 Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, “The Aztec Main Pyramid: Ritual Architecture at Tenochtitlan,” in The Ancient Americas: Art from the Sacred Landscapes, ed. Richard F. Townsend (Chicago, Illinois: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1992), 190.

24 Adrian Locke, “Gods of Life,” in Aztecs, ed. Warwick Bray (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2002), 171.

69 While the Aztecs did use a form of pictographic writing, the visual arts played a major role in communication. Aztec works of art tell us about their religion, society, and ethnicity.25

The main function of art was to communicate ideas about humans’ place in the cosmos and society, showing the relationship between gods and humans.26 These artworks varied in size, from small figurines to architectural monuments. The materials were also diverse: clay, stone, feathers, textiles, animal pelts, and bark paper. Among their most significant works of art are the representations of deities, divinatory calendars, sacrificial stones, and ceremonial centers, most related to the elite ideology of war and sacrifice.

The Aztec religion was polytheistic, and multiple representations of gods were created in relief and in the round sculptures in stone, wood, and clay, as well as on paper and hide codices.

Deities were identified by their accouterments. They were usually represented seated or standing, holding a ritual object or with expressive hand gestures. They possessed various powers and were responsible for natural phenomena.27 Some of the main deities were Huitzilopochtli, the supreme one as patron of the Mexica, connected with sun and fire;28 Tlaloc, god of rain and lighting;29 Quetzalcoatl, a mixture of serpent and bird (the feathered serpent), lord of life, and patron of priests;30 Tezcatlipoca, god of rulers, warriors, and sorcerers;31 and Coatlicue, the

25 Esther Pasztory, Aztec Art (New York: Abrams, 1983), 70.

26 Ibid, 71.

27 Ibid, 84.

28 Miller and Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary, 93.

29 Ibid, 166.

30 Ibid, 141; Coe, Mexico, 206.

31 Miller and Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary, 164.

70 mother of Huitzilopochtli, she of the serpent skirt, goddess of the earth and mother of gods and men.32

The 260 day calendars or tonalamoxtli were books of divination. They were used to predict the fate of newborns, married couples, traveling, and agriculture.33 They were painted on bark paper or deer hide and usually organized in screenfolds, which extended to several pages with images on both sides.34 Pages in the divinatory codices included one or more deities who were read as the governing forces influencing the destiny of an individual. These deities were recognizable by their facial and body paint, headdresses, fancy clothing, and jewelry.35 Humans and animals were also depicted in the calendars. The humans sent messages with their gestures.

They could be priests, sacrificial victims, or improper men and women. The most common animals were jaguars, eagles, quetzals, and rattlesnakes. Animals with elaborate costumes represented supernatural beings. Some animals (deer, rabbits, and quail) were represented as offerings.36

Sacrificial stones were used to sacrifice victims of war or those who had been offered to the gods. The most common way of sacrificing was to stretch the body on a sacrificial stone, open the chest with an obsidian knife, and tear out the heart, which was placed in a vessel and offered to the gods.37 Sacrificial stones were circular monoliths, usually carved with significant symbols or scenes. The best known is the Calendar Stone, which includes symbols related to the

32 Ibid, 64; Coe, 213.

33 Elizabeth Hill Boone, Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007), 29.

34 Ibid, 18.

35 Ibid, 39-40.

36 Ibid, 49-52.

37 Coe, Mexico, 205.

71 cycle of life and sacrifice. It refers to the four worlds that were destroyed before the current one, and includes the twenty days of the divinatory calendar.38 All are represented within a solar diadem bordered by fire serpents. At the center is a representation of Ollin, a day sign heralding the end of the current age, the Fifth Sun.39

Ceremonial centers were significant sacred monuments in Aztec religion. They usually included a rectangular stepped pyramid with a temple room built on top. The roof could be highly ornamented and visible from a great distance.40 The most important Aztec ceremonial center was the Great Temple. It was a double temple with two shrines, dedicated to the gods

Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc. It was located at the center of the city of Tenochtitlan.41 These centers were the sites of multiple ceremonies, including human sacrifices.42

Even though the Aztecs were seen by Spaniards as a ferocious civilization, their city of

Tenochtitlan was admired as a great metropolis.43 It was described by Bernal Díaz del Castillo (a soldier who accompanied Cortés) as an impressive city, with many structures built on water and dry land. It seemed enchanted because the pyramids and other buildings, made of masonry, seemed to emerge from the water.44 The ruler Moctezuma II was the head of the Aztec state when the Spanish arrived. With the help of warriors from Tlaxcala, a territory which had never submitted to Aztec rule, the Spanish, led by Hernán Cortés, conquered the city in 1521.45

38 Brumfiel, Huitzilopochtli’s Conquest, 6.

39 Miller, The Art of Mesoamerica, 227.

40 Pasztory, Aztec Art, 74.

41 Miller and Taube, 161.

42 Miller, 218.

43 Ibid, 210.

44 Ibid, 211.

45 Ibid, 215.

72 The Impact of Spanish Colonization and the Demonization of the Aztec Deities

The Spaniards were shocked by Aztec religion when they arrived at the city of

Tenochtitlan. Sacrifices and other religious practices made them see the Indians as idolatrous and superstitious. The Spaniards started to demonize the Aztec faith, especially the gods. Their conquest became not only territorial, but spiritual. The mentality of the Spaniards was influenced by theories dating to the beginning of Christianity but attuned by the recent Reconquista. Those ideas discriminated and saw as others all individuals or groups of individuals whose beliefs differed from Christianity.46

The Spanish related the Aztecs to the pagan cultures of Europe. The first missionaries wrote how similar the Aztec culture was to the ancient civilizations of Europe. For example, the

Spanish Jesuit José de Acosta (1540-1600) said the inhuman and diabolical customs and rites of the Indians could be seen in the Greeks and Romans, who committed the same kinds of crimes.47

In fact, the first explorer in the New World to see Indians as idolaters was Christopher

Columbus. In a letter from his first voyage written to the Spanish monarchs, he describes the

Indians of the island of Guanahaní as people who live in perdition and have fallen into idolatry.

He asks the monarchs to spread the Christian faith to that territory, because he sees the natives as idolaters and heretics, making reference to Muslims and Jews.48

After arriving in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Hernán Cortés also referred to the Aztecs as idolaters. In his Carta de relación [Cortés’ Letter] sent to King Charles V in 1520, Cortés explains the idolatrous practices of the natives. He says they had man-made idols that were not

46 Josué Sánchez, "El diabolismo europeo en América." Cuadernos americanos, no. 93 Nueva época (May-June 2002): 137.

47 Fernando Cervantes, The Idea of the Devil and the Problem of the Indian: The Case of Mexico in the Sixteenth Century (London: Institute of Latin American Studies, 1991), 20-1.

48 Christopher Columbus, “Prologue,” in The Journal: Account of the First Voyage and Discovery of the Indies. (Rome: Istituto poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Libreria dello Stato, 1992), 9.

73 worth the worship they were giving them, and that the same worship should be given to the real

God of the Christians. The Aztecs had wrong beliefs, and according to Cortés, their idolatry was caused by the sin of ignorance.49 Later, other colonizers, explorers, and missionaries to the newly-established colony of New Spain saw the Aztecs as idolaters. In addition, early discoverers and missionaries were convinced their Christian faith was superior to the religion practiced by the Indians.50 Native Americans were perceived to be under the influence of Satan and in need of European intervention. The Europeans thought they needed to bring the gospel’s message to the Indians because they were living in darkness and shadow.51 The innocence and nobility of the Indians had made them an easy target for the devil; they fell into his trap and came to worship him.52 Indigenous deities soon began to be identified with demons, and this image of the devil in idols was terrifying to Europeans.53 Immediately after the conquest, Cortés asked Charles V to send Franciscan friars to convert the natives of New Spain to the Christian faith. Twelve Franciscans arrived in Mexico in 1524, with an animated hope of establishing the

Church in the New World.54

When missionaries arrived to convert the Indians, the goal was not to understand the others but to eliminate their “otherness.” They intended to incorporate the people of the New

World into Christendom. Since the idea of the devil was central in Europe, it also played a

49 Cervantes, The Idea of the Devil, 3.

50 Ibid.

51 Fernando Cervantes, The Devil in the New World: The Impact of Diabolism in New Spain (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1994), 9.

52 Ibid, 8.

53 Cervantes, The Idea of the Devil, 3.

54 Cervantes, The Devil in the New World, 12.

74 central role in the interpretation of native cultures.55 Europeans started destroying idols because they were understood as demons, avatars of the devil himself. They were replaced by Christian religious images. Díaz del Castillo56 explained that Cortés ordered the destruction of Indian idols: every time his soldiers destroyed them, they were replaced by crosses and images of the

Virgin Mary.57 With this destruction and replacement, as well as the preaching of the Christian message, Europeans expected Indians to realize their errors and accept the new faith.58 There was optimistic enthusiasm at the first conversions of the Indians. The missionaries saw a positive response, with groups of natives joining together to hear the Christian message and submitting to baptism. For the missionaries, the defeat of the devil seemed easy to achieve.59 According to the friar Toribio de Benavente, known as Motolinía, the Franciscans could baptize around 1,500 people in one day.60 Dominican friars, members of the next regular order to arrive in New Spain, were skeptical and critical of the way Franciscans converted indigenous people in large masses.

They insisted that careful instruction of the principles of the faith was needed before baptism and other sacraments.61

The optimism of conversion did not last long. Soon indigenous people began to show resistance. Even though their idols, the representations of Aztec gods, were destroyed and confiscated, clandestine native practices were soon discovered. After conversion, it became clear

55 Cervantes, The Idea of the Devil, 2.

56 Díaz del Castillo (c. 1495-1584) wrote Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España [True History of the Conquest of New Spain] in 1532, which describes the expeditions in detail.

57 Cervantes, The Idea of the Devil, 3.

58 Ibid, 4.

59 Cervantes, The Devil in the New World, 13.

60 Cervantes, The Idea of the Devil, 5.

61 Ibid, 6.

75 that indigenous rites had not disappeared.62 Human sacrifice continued, although it became less frequent. It was common to see young men with wounds on some parts of their bodies, from offering autosacrificial blood to their ancient gods. Also, religious images were frequently found hidden in caves.63 Motolinía said the Indians buried idols wherever they could; sometimes they were placed at the feet of crosses or under the stones of altar steps. New converts pretended they venerated the cross, but they were actually adoring their previous deities.64

Also worrisome to the new missionaries were the multiple similarities between Christian practices and native rites. One of those similarities was fasting before a sacrifice. This sacrifice ended in a communal banquet that included eating hallucinogenic mushrooms. Missionaries like

Toribio de Benavente interpreted this performance as involving consumption of “the flesh of god,” or a sort of communion.65 By the mid-1530s it was noticed that the conversion of the

Indians had been superficial. Idolatry was so widespread that Fray Juan de Zumárraga, the

Franciscan Archbishop of Mexico, applied the first inquisitorial practices against superstitious and idolatrous Indians.66 By the 1530s the Indians were not seen as innocent pagans anymore.

They had been baptized and instructed, so they could receive the same disciplinary treatment used in Europe against those who committed heresy, idolatry, and apostasy.67

62 Cervantes, The Devil in the New World, 13.

63 Ibid, 14.

64 Cervantes, The Idea of the Devil, 6.

65 Cervantes, The Devil in the New World, 14.

66 Cervantes, The Idea of the Devil, 6.

67 Cervantes, The Devil in the New World, 14.

76 The Inquisition in Colonial Mexico

Before the inquisition was established, there were some earlier actions to uproot idolatry.

Around 1524, the friar Martín de Valencia executed four noble Indians from Tlaxcala because they were considered idolaters.68 Also, Friar Vicente de Santa María conducted the first auto-da- fe in 1528.69 By 1535, Bishop Zumárraga became the apostolic inquisitor before the Holy Office was well established. He faced the problem of idolatrous Indians and their secret ceremonies. He was the first to burn Indians who were considered idolaters. But he was removed from his position because of excessive severity in his punishments. In a letter from 1540, the Consejo

Supremo [Supreme Council] communicated to Zumárraga that the Indians were considered new to Christianity, and it was not fair to punish them in that way. From 1543 to 1547 Francisco

Tello de Sandoval served as apostolic inquisitor.70 After Tello retured to Spain, the second archbishop of Mexico, Alonso Montúfar, took charge of inquisitorial practices. He cared that the

Indians did not commit idolatry, but he was more concerned in avoiding Lutheranism. He also supervised the books that were printed in Mexico or arrived to the colony. He ended the inquisitorial position in 1568.71 In 1569, Philip II created the Office of the Inquisition in New

Spain, and two years later, in 1571, it was established in Mexico.72 Don Pedro Moya de

Contreras, the uncle of Micaela de los Ángeles, and Juan de Cervantes were appointed as the first

68 Edmundo O’Gorman, “La Inquisición en México,” en Historia de México, t. v, Salvat, México, 1974, 80.

69 Ibid, 82.

70 Ibid, 82-4.

71 Ibid, 85.

72 Jorge E. Traslosheros and Ana de Zaballa Beascoechea, coordinators. Los indios ante los foros de justicia religiosa en la hispanoamérica virreinal. Mexico: Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, 2010.

77 inquisitors.73 There was a ceremony of oath, where people were invited to not admit or consent heresy and were encouraged to denounce it.74 The Inquisition persecuted people such as heretics, bigamists, Jews, and Protestants who committed acts that offended the Catholic faith. The majority of these people were Europeans who had settled in Mexico.75

The Holy Office of the Inquisition did not persecute Indians for crimes against the

Catholic faith. Instead the tribunal eclesiástico [ecclesiastical court] was the institution that pursued Indians who committed idolatry.76 The difference between the Inquisition and the ecclesiastical court was that the Inquisition attended a much larger geographical space. Its function was limited to attending offenses against Christianity committed by the non-Indian population. The ecclesiastical courts occupied geographically limited spaces. These courts had jurisdiction over the whole population within their dioceses, overseeing crimes against the faith committed by the Indians, but also tithes, wills, Church discipline, criminal justice, marital problems, sexual morality, and other crimes.77 Many years after the conversion of the Indians, idolatry remained a threat.78 By the 1600s idolatry was still a problem, and continued to be persecuted and punished by the tribunals. For example, a letter from 1620 prohibited the use of peyote, another hallucinogenic plant used for indigenous ceremonies. It was considered superstitious and opposed to the Catholic faith. Ingestion supposedly required the assistance of

73 O’Gorman, 94.

74 Ibid, 96.

75 Ibid.

76 Traslosheros, Los indios, 17-8.

77 Ibid, 54.

78 Ibid, 22.

78 the devil. Use of this plant resulted in strong punishments.79 By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, bishops encouraged Indians to voluntarily confess their idolatry. In the eighteenth century, a campaign to extirpate idolatry prompted a confiscation of books and a deep investigation into clandestine practices in New Spain.80 Accusations were received by the Holy

Office, who first checked any offender’s lineage. If the individual was non-Indian, he was investigated by the Inquisition.81 Offenders could receive excommunication, confiscation of their property, or the death penalty, depending on the severity of the offense.82 If the individual was

Indian, he was sent to the ecclesiastical court.83 Indigenous people were considered impoverished people who at the same time received some privileges.84 Because of this consideration, they received lesser penalties: lashings, public humiliation, and working in a monastery for Catholic instruction. They did not receive the death penalty.85 The Inquisition ended with Mexican independence in the first decades of the nineteenth century.86

Scenes of the Apocalypse in the New World

The image of Saint Michael defeating the devil was significant during the conquest of

Mexico and the conversion of the Indians. The conquerors associated themselves with the conflict between good and evil. They linked their armies to the armies of God with his angels,

79 Denuncia del Santo Oficio en contra del uso supersticioso del Peyote, June 19, 1620, manuscript, from Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico, Indiferente Virreinal.

80 Traslosheros, Los indios, 27-8.

81 Ibid, 66.

82 Ibid, 33-4.

83 Ibid, 66.

84 Ibid, 22.

85 Ibid, 34.

86 O’Gorman, La Inquisición en México, 109.

79 fighting against Satan and his demons.87 For conversion purposes, theatrical representations of the battle between Saint Michael and Lucifer were performed. Plays ended with the defeat and humiliation of the devil; after that came a new era of truth and charity. These representations were intended to persuade Indians that their previous deities were demons who ruled their lives.88 Paintings of the battle between good and evil were created in the early colony. Among the first examples are the murals of the Augustinian church San Miguel Arcángel de

Ixmiquilpan, in Hidalgo, Mexico. As the name suggests, Michael was the patron saint of the church. The battles are thought to be a reference to Michael’s battles and his defeat of evil. The murals were created in the context of the Chichimeca War (waged against nomadic groups in

Mexico’s northern deserts) in New Spain in the second half of the sixteenth century.89 In the series of murals lining the church nave, several of the scenes show indigenous warriors and monstrous beings fighting each other.90 These scenes are called the Battle of Aztec and

Chichimec Warriors.

One scene is characterized by a yellow monster (Figure 4-1). The monster is similar to a horse, with one frontal human arm carrying a semi-naked warrior. This warrior holds a macana, an Aztec weapon, with his left hand, and a stone in his right hand. The yellow monster is fighting, showing his sharp fangs and tongue. His tail has a reptile’s shape. This monster is looking back toward another warrior who is protecting himself with a shield and also holding a

87 Cervantes, The Devil in the New World, 10.

88 Ibid, 13.

89 Arturo Vergara Hernández, Las pinturas del templo de Ixmiquilpan ¿Evangelización, reivindicación indígena o propaganda de guerra? (Hidalgo: Universidad Autónoma del estado de Hidalgo, 2010), 7.

90 Ibid, 8.

80 macana.91 This battle scene represents the fight between good and evil in archetypal Mexican terms.92 The monster is a demonic representation of a Chichimec warrior. This group was demonized as barbarian for being nomadic and rejecting evangelization. The warrior behind the monster is Aztec. He represents the just army, the sedentary and civilized Aztecs.93 This theme was used by the Augustinian missionaries as a psychomachia (a struggle between good and evil) that translated Saint Michael’s struggle in local terms. The scenes were painted inside the church because it was a public place where the message could be seen by the Indians, especially the

Otomí residents of Ixmiquilpan, who fought on the side of Spanish soldiers during the

Chichimec War.94

Another scene includes more human actors (Figure 4-2). On the left side, there is a warrior dressed in a white shirt, a belt, and a kind of skirt made with leaves. He raises his right arm and wields a macana. He carries a human head at his waist with a kind of rope. His left arm holds a semicircular shield and he wears some sort of headdress. There are scrolls emerging from his mouth, suggesting sound or speech. There are two naked warriors fighting against him. One is defeated on the ground. The other is standing, holding a banner with his right hand and a bow with his left one.95 The warrior represented on the left side has similarities with the archangel

Michael. As has been explained, Michael was commonly represented as a soldier. On many occasions he wears a kilt or skirt. In the majority of his representations related to the Apocalypse he is raising his arm holding a sword or a spear, and in some depictions, he also holds a shield.

91 Vergara Hernández, Las pinturas del templo, 102-03.

92 Ibid, 8.

93 Ibid, 106.

94 Ibid, 107.

95 Ibid, 94-5.

81 This warrior in the mural of Ixmiquilpan could be making reference to the archangel. This church probable also had a representation of Saint Michael, as a sculpture or oil painting. This link allows the figure to represent good, while the naked warriors represent evil. One is defeating and lies fallen, like the devil in the representations of the Apocalypse. These murals of

Ixmiquilpan use local archetypes because they were directed to an indigenous audience. Even though the battles are between indigenous peoples, the message is the same, it is a battle between good and evil. In a historical sense the Aztec who is fighting on side of good was already converted to Christianity, while the Chichimecs were not. The Aztecs represented here are not presented as demonic since in ideal reality they had already accepted the Christian religion.96

These murals could have been used for conversion purposes. The battle is between two different indigenous groups, Aztecs and Chichimecs, and the triumphant are the Aztecs. In this case,

Aztecs represent the good because they had accepted Christianity and were now living under

Christian parameters. The demonized ones are the Chichimecs since they rebelled against the new religion. Christians used to ridicule the group who resisted to convert as a tool to make evangelization easier.

In Mexico, one of the first oil paintings depicting the Apocalypse scene of Saint Michael defeating the devil was created by the Flemish artist Martín de Vos in 1581 (Figure 3-9). It was brought from Europe, and placed in the Cathedral of Cuautitlán just north of Mexico City.

Michael is depicted as a young man with blond, curly hair. He is dressed as a Roman soldier with a blue breast plate, ornamented with the moon and sun on the chest. His skirt has hanging strips with figures of angels painted in gray. His costume is ornamented with red and green fabric. His wings and arms are open, and his left hand holds a palm of victory. Around his right hand

96 Michael K. Schuessler, Foundational Arts: Mural Painting and Missionary Theater in New Spain (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2013).

82 appears the text “QUIS. UT. DEUS” [Who is like God?]. Heads of cherubim surround Michael’s head. The devil is under his feet, and is figured as a siren, the upper part appearing as a winged robust woman. This depiction of Michael defeating the devil was an inspiration for later representations painted in New Spain.97

One of the earliest surviving representations of Saint Michael defeating the devil known to be made in Mexico is the one by Luis Juárez. It was painted in the first quarter of the seventeenth century (Figure 2-1). It also represents the battle between good and evil in archetypal terms. The angel appears victorious with open wings, raising a spear and banner with the legend “QUIS. UT. DEUS.” By this time, Michael was already well known in New Spain for vanquishing the devil. For this, he became known as protector of humans and protector of the

Catholic Church. Luis Juárez’ work was followed by many similar representations. The scene was depicted in paintings, sculptures, reliefs, embroidery, and silverwork.98

In the second half of the seventeenth century and in the eighteenth century, the scene of

Michael defeating the devil commonly appeared as a vignette in scenes dedicated to the Virgin of the Apocalypse. Both the Woman of the Apocalypse and Saint Michael were part of the vision of described in the Book of Revelation, and were exemplified in artworks by the

Mexican painters Cristobal de Villalpando and Miguel Cabrera. Villalpando painted the Virgin of the Apocalypse around 1685, for the Sacristy of the Cathedral in Mexico City (Figure 4-3). The battle between Michael and the devil is at the center bottom of the composition. At center, the

Virgin appears ascending to heaven. The message of Villalpando’s work is that the Church is constantly persecuted by evil, symbolized in full form by Michel’s foe, the dragon with seven

97 de la Maza, El Pintor Martín de Vos, 35-7.

98 Ruiz Gomar, Revelaciones, 362.

83 heads. The devil wants to destroy what God has created, but will not succeed because Michael will not permit it.99

Another Virgin of the Apocalypse accompanied by a representation of Michael defeating the dragon with seven heads was painted by Miguel Cabrera in 1760 (Figure 4-4). The Virgin is at the center of the composition, with the Christ Child in her arms. Her right foot steps on one of the heads of being defeated by the archangel and his celestial army at left. At the top of the painting is God the Father touching the wings of Mary. On the right are angels holding emblems of the Virgin Mary (symbolizing her purity and wisdom).100

Because of the early dates and unique iconography, the Battle of Aztec and Chichimec

Warriors was probably meant to address the conversion of Indians, especially those who refused to accept Christianity. Michael and the devil are not depicted, but the concept of the triumph of good over evil was already being considered in particularly Mexican terms. The two Saint

Michaels painted by Martín de Vos and Luis Juárez in 1581 and around 1615 respectively, are more likely related to Indian resistance to conversion. The devils depicted could have referred to

Aztec deities, already demonized by Spaniards. Representations of the battle between good and evil by Villalpando and Cabrera may still have been related to the problem of idolatry, since it still existed, but to a lesser degree.

99 José de Jesús Aguilar Valdés, Catedral Metropolitana de México: la Sacristía Mayor (Mexico City).

100 Guía Museo Nacional de Arte, 75.

84 Saint Michael in New Spain

Significance

As seen in Chapter 2, Saint Michael was very popular in Spain. This popularity also developed in New Spain. In the New World, the archangel Michael initially followed the same tradition as in Europe: he had the same significance and iconography. However, his image also underwent some changes in meaning. He continued to be the leader of the celestial army and protector of heaven. He was the one who defeated the devil and expelled him from heaven. In

Mexico, he continued fighting to eliminate heresy and idolatry. We know this because of the numerous representations in different media that show the archangel in the battle against the demon. Colonial Mexico was seen as a territory of infidels, which provoked the widespread worship of Saint Michael.101 More specifically, his help was indispensable during and after the conquest. He was invoked to completely destroy Pre-Columbian cults.102 The defeated Indians could not abandon their previous religion so suddenly, and Michael was the saint called upon to assist missionaries in this situation.103 There were multiple representations of Michael accompanying the Virgin, Jesus, and the other archangels, or appearing to a Saint or to an individual.

In Europe, Saint Michael was believed to have been manifested in apparitions, like the ones on Mount Gargano (Italy), and in France, Spain, and Rome.104 In New Spain, the archangel was also was believed to appear in different towns and to different people. One well-known

101 Rogelio Ruiz Gomar, “Sebastián López de Arteaga: Apparition of Saint Michael on Mount Gargano,” in Painting a New World: Mexican Art and Life, 1521-1821 (Denver: Frederick and Jan Mayer Center for Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial Art, Denver Art Museum, 2004), 141.

102 Báez Macías, El Arcángel San Miguel, 29.

103 Ibid, 28.

104 Ibid, 30.

85 apparition occurred in Tlaxcala, where Michael appeared to the Indian Diego Lázaro in 1631.

This individual was praying in a procession because an epidemic in his town was menacing the

Indian population. Michael appeared, promising to cure all diseases afflicting the town. He showed Lázaro a miraculous spring that would cure his people. To celebrate the angel’s apparition, a church was built in that place, now called “San Miguel del Milagro” [Saint Michael of the Miracle].105 In Europe, Saint Michael was patron saint of different towns, cities, and churches. This was also the case in colonial Mexico, as we have seen for Ixmiquilpan.106 Michael was summoned in times of disaster, such as earthquakes or epidemics. Many towns, neighborhoods, rivers, mountains, as well as churches, chapels, and altar screens, were given his name to be under his protection.107 These include San Miguel de Allende in , San

Miguel Huejotzingo in Puebla, San Miguel de Cozumel in Quintana Roo, and San Miguel del

Río, a town in Oaxaca. As in Europe, his feast day was on September 29, and was highly celebrated each year.108

Iconography

In the New World, the attributes of Saint Michael remain the same: sword, spear, palm frond, scale, scepter, and cross. He sometimes appears standing on cherubs’ heads or on a cumulus cloud. Sometimes he is shown defeating the devil, or with his army of angels in the battle against the devil.109 Attributes depend on the role he is representing. For example, if he is in the battle against the devil, he usually has a sword and/or a cross. If he appears in the Last

105 Ruiz Gomar, “Sebastián López de Arteaga,” 141.

106 He is the patron saint of the city of Puebla.

107 Ruiz Gomar, Revelaciones, 362.

108 Paola Aguilar-Álvarez Zereceros, “Los retablos de la Profesa,” (B.A. thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1998), 74.

109 Báez Macías, El Arcángel San Miguel, 13.

86 Judgement, he has a scale. In New Spain as in Spain and Italy, he is dressed as a Roman soldier.

As we have seen, he wears a navy blue breast plate, usually ornamented with the moon and the sun. His military costume is decorated with pieces of fabric generally flying rearward. His wings are big, beautiful and open, signifying that he was sent by God for an important mission.110

However, the soldier’s attire underwent some changes in the New World. For instance, a helmet was often added, ornamented with feathers; Michael’s dress and his sandals were often even more ornamented with golden brocade; and gemstones appeared holding the tunic above his knees and the fabric embellishing his sandals. These new elements are shown in the Saint

Michael painted by Juan Correa in the late seventeenth century (Figure 4-5). According to

Eduardo Báez Macías, the archangel Michael was represented in two ways in the colony. One was in the European style, following the Spanish tradition and copying from German and

Flemish engravings. It included St. Michael dressed as a Roman soldier in the same fashion as the European images. When the Indians started to paint Christian themes, they started to include indigenous features.111

Another characteristic Saint Michael developed in the colony is that he is always represented as a young and beautiful boy with light skin color.112 This characteristic is seen in

European paintings of Saint Michael where he appears as a handsome youth with a creamy skin tone. This whiteness seems to be related to limpieza de sangre [blood purity]. This concept was important during colonial times and referred to the superiority of race. It began in late medieval

Castile and meant the absence of non-Christian (such as Jewish or Muslim) ancestry. The pure

110 Elisa Vargaslugo, “Juan Correa: San Miguel Arcángel,” in Revelaciones: Las artes en América Latina, 1492- 1820 (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007), 370.

111 Báez Macías, El Arcángel San Miguel, 60.

112 Elisa Vargaslugo, 370.

87 blood society was that of old Christian ancestry. This concept was instrumentalized in the middle of the fifteenth century with the intention of excluding converts from certain institutions, as well as from public and ecclesiastical offices. By the middle of the sixteenth century, there was an obsession with the idea that loyalty to the faith came only from old Christian descent.113 In colonial Mexico, the concept of blood purity was also elemental, but here it was more closely connected to the notion of race. Blood purity meant to be free of any stain of African, Indian, or mixed blood.114 The three major “racial” groups who inhabited the colony were Spaniards,

Indians, and Africans. By the sixteenth century names started to appear designating differences between races. When they started to mix, identity became more confusing. The three most common terms from the sixteenth century that were used to designate mixed race were: mestizo

(from Spanish and Indian), mulato (Spanish-African), and zambo (African and Indian).115

Race often defined the status of the individual. Spaniards were considered the pure race and thus were at the top of the hierarchy.116 First were the Spanish peninsulares [peninsulars], followed by the criollos [creoles], the American born Spaniards. Later there were the mestizos.

Only the mestizos who were born from Indian nobility were accepted into upper class society.

Indians were in the lower classes, with the important exception of the Indian nobles.117 Africans

113 María Elena Martínez, Genealogical Fictions: Limpieza de Sangre, Religion, and Gender in Colonial Mexico (California: Stanford University Press, 2008), 1.

114 Magali M. Carrera, Imagining Identity in New Spain: Race, Lineage, and the Colonial Body in Portraiture and Casta Paintings. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003, 1.

115 Ilona Katzew, “Casta Painting: Identity and Social Stratification in Colonial Mexico,” in New Orders: Casta Painting and Colonial Latin America (New York: Americas Society Art Gallery, 1996), 9.

116 Ibid, 10.

117 Donna Pierce, “At the Crossroads: Cultural Confluence and Daily Life in Mexico, 1521-1821,” in Painting a New World: Mexican Art and Life, 1521-1821 (Denver: Frederick and Jan Mayer Center for Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial Art, Denver Art Museum, 2004), 38.

88 were brought as slaves, and were in the lowest level of the society.118 However, this social order had exceptions. In some occasions members of the lower class could move to the middle or even upper class.119 Sexual contact among the three groups (Spanish, Indians, and Africans) began in the sixteenth century, but intermarriage started to be common in the second half of the seventeenth century.120 The first Mexican parish books that contained registers of baptism, marriage, and death, were divided in books of Spaniards and books of Indians.121

The conquest put the Spanish at the top of colonial society. As mentioned above, these included the peninsulars and creoles. They enjoyed special privileges like tax exceptions and judicial rights. Spanish conquerors, early settlers, and their descendants were in this category.

When the conquest ended, the conquistadors and first settlers obtained rewards. The children of two Spanish parents had advantages over other children. They were linked to the conquerors and were also exempt from taxation. Mestizo children of conquistadors were also exempt and could enjoy those advantages; after one or two generations they were absorbed by the Spanish elite.122

Most of the Spaniards were not wealthy or from social prominence, but they maintained pride based on their Spanish heritage.123 Calidad [quality] was also important in Spanish colonial society. It concerned skin color, but also social and moral manners. It included wealth, occupation, honor, integrity, and place of origin.124 Physiognomy was also important to

118 Katzew, “Casta Painting,” 9.

119 Pierce, “At the Crossroads,” 38.

120 Katzew, “Casta Painting,” 9.

121 Martínez, Genealogical Fictions, 142.

122 Mark A Burkholder and Lyman L. Johnson, Colonial Latin America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 195.

123 Ibid, 197.

89 distinguish honorable people. It was used to differentiate virtuous gentlemen from dishonorable ones.125

In San Miguel Arcángel, the light skin color of Michael may refer to this blood purity.

Painting him in light skin tones would link him to Spanishness, and this characteristic made him a superior being according to the parameters established by the Spaniards. The fact that he was an angel made him a pure being, and with the whiteness added, related him to the Spanish

(peninsular and creole) society in New Spain.

The Devil in New Spain

European Background

As mentioned earlier, the European concept of the devil was brought to New Spain. In this land, the devil continued to represent Judeo-Christian cosmology’s dark side and supposedly tempted humanity to commit crimes against God. The belief was also developed that devils inhabited the figures representing native cultures’ divinities, which were classed as idols. For

Europeans, indigenous people were living under the power of Satan.126 In medieval times the ancient Greco-Roman gods were perceived as demons. Manuscripts and sculptures used the figures of devils to represent non-Christian cult images (Figures 3-10, 3-11, and 3-12). In New

Spain, Europeans did the same with Aztec divinities.

Representation of the Aztec Gods

As mentioned above, Aztec religion was demonized: the deities were seen as devils and the indigenous people were seen as idolaters. This is demonstrated throughout the manuscripts written by the first missionaries arriving in New Spain and the images that accompanied those

124 Carrera, 6.

125 Ibid, 9.

126 Cervantes, The Devil in the New World, 9.

90 texts. When they described an indigenous god, they often called it a “devil” or “demon.” When they used drawings, the image of the deity or cult image was replaced by one of the devil. These writers’ mentality was influenced by European treatises on superstition and idolatry that influenced Catholicism and did not permit them to be open to other religions outside

Christianity. In the New World, the Aztec gods conjured the devil of the Old World. Visually,

Pre-Columbian deities were given the attributes of the European devil, making them look terrifying and harmful.127 For example, the Aztec female goddess Tzitzimime had been associated with childbirth and midwives.128 During pre-Columbian times Tzitzimime, like all other gods, had positive and negative qualities. She held up the sky and provided adequate rain for crops. She also caused and cured illness.129 After the conquest, Europeans, who changed her sex from feminine to masculine because the devil was gendered male, demonized Tzitzimime.

Tzitzimime was described primarily as a monstrous and frightening being.130

Spanish missionaries added negative attributes to other Aztec deities, both in writing and in pictures. They learned Nahuatl and other languages in order to understand Mesoamerican cultures. Fray Bernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan priest who arrived in Mexico in 1529 to convert Indians. With the help of Nahua informants and scribes, he wrote Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España [General History of the Things of New Spain] between 1540 and 1585, a twelve-volume treatise describing Aztec culture. In this treatise he referred to Aztec gods as

127 Cecelia F. Klein, “Wild Woman in Colonial Mexico: An Encounter of European and Aztec Concepts of the Other,” in Reframing the Renaissance: Visual Culture in Europe and Latin America 1450-1650, edited by Claire Farago, 245-264 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), 252.

128 Cecelia F. Klein, “The Devil and the Skirt: An iconographic inquiry into the pre-Hispanic nature of the tzitzimime,” in Ancient Mesoamerica, 11 (2000): 1, Cambridge University Press.

129 Ibid, 4.

130 Ibid, 3.

91 “lying and deceitful devils.”131 The text is accompanied by an illustration of the Great Temple, the main shrine of the Aztecs, where the water god Tlaloc appears in the shape of a bearded goat and Huitzilopochtli is shown as a devil with his mouth open (Figure 4-6).132 As we have seen,

Pan, the ancient Greek deity, had goat features and was used by Christians to represent the devil in art.133

The Aztecs depicted their gods in ceramic urns, codices, murals, stone reliefs and free standing sculptures. They were not always represented in anthropomorphic form. Their main identifying features were headdresses and ostentatious attire. An example of the representation of

Tlaloc may be seen in the ceramic pot sculpted in high relief on display in the Museo Templo

Mayor [Great Temple Museum] (Figure 4-7). As seen here, the deity was usually depicted with goggle eyes and large jaguar teeth. He was related to wealth and prosperity because he provided rain.134 In the Codex Borbonicus, a colonial copy of an Aztec divinatory manuscript,

Huitzilopochtli appears dressed as a warrior (Figure 4-8). He is associated with sun and fire. No monumental sculptures of Huitzilopochtli survive, but in early post-Conquest two-dimensional representations he wears a hummingbird headdress, feathers, a yellow and blue striped face, and a black mask. He carries a fire serpent.135 In Europe, the serpent was related to the devil who tempted Eve to eat the fruit from the prohibited tree.

Motolinía also wrote treatises to explain the rituals and customs of the Indians in New

Spain. He wrote Historia de los Indios de la Nueva España [History of the Indians of New

131 Cervantes, The Devil in the New World, 15.

132 Ibid.

133 Hillman, Pan y la pesadilla, 22.

134 Miller and Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary, 166.

135 Ibid, 93.

92 Spain] in 1536. In a section of this text, he describes the indigenous calendar and how newborns acquired names according to the dates they were born on. Three months after birth, a child was presented in a temple of a god to be given a new name. Motolinía calls this temple “the temple of the demon.”136 When he describes other ceremonies performed in temples, he always refers to them as the temples of the demon. He describes many different kinds of celebrations. In one of these celebrations, once a year, a group of men of the nobility went to the mountains to hunt birds and different kinds of animals such as jaguars, coyote, deer, hares, and rabbits. He says the animals were sacrificed and offered to the “demon,” meaning their god.137 Motolinía also describes a festivity in Tlaxcala with ceremonies and sacrifices. Motolinía says it was dedicated to the main demon the people adored.138 He also characterizes the indigenous celebrations and rituals as full of cruelty.

Juan de Torquemada was another Spanish Franciscan friar who went to convert Indians in New Spain. He wrote Monarquía Indiana [Indian Monarchy] in 1615, a twenty-one volume document containing an explanation of Aztec rituals and life.139 One of the books is dedicated to explaining the gods. It includes a discussion of the Aztec ideology of duality and how the deities needed to have counterparts to create a balance. Torquemada explains the nature of the gods

Ometecuhtli and Omecíhuatl, Lord and Lady of Duality, who complemented each other. They were under the title of Ometéotl (which refers to the two gods). Torquemada says, of all the gods, these were among the most important the “blind” Mexicans could have. He says these two

136 Toribio de Benavente, Historia de los Indios de la Nueva España (Madrid: Dastin Historia, 2001), 91.

137 Toribio de Benavente, Sacrificios e Idolatrías (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1997), 19.

138 Ibid, 31.

139 Juan de Torquemada, Monarquía Indiana (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1995), v.

93 gods (“demons”) inhabited a city located above eleven heavens.140 Like all European missionaries, he decries the worshiping of these two deities, saying it was a mistake of the indigenous people to adore these false gods.141

Spanish missionaries influenced the way other Europeans saw Aztec culture. Some scholars wrote books describing and illustrating indigenous religion in New Spain. That vision was influenced by illustrations and descriptions by missionaries to Mexico. One example is the engraving Huitzilopochtli in Demonic Guise (Figure 4-9), part of the book Description de l’Univers by the French engineer and cartographer, Allain Manesson Mallet (1630-1706), of

1683. It is a five-volume publication containing maps and describing customs and religions of different nations. Mallet drew most of the pictures that were then engraved for the book.142 The book included Mexico, and here Mallet depicts the god Huitzilopochtli in a temple. While the images on the back wall of the structure under the arches are vaguely drawn from Mexican codices, the main image he presents does not reflect how the Aztecs represented their god. He shows Huitzilopochtli with the Greek god Pan’s features and bat wings. Mallet thus demonizes

Huitzilopochtli, because Pan’s features (part human and part goat) were used to represent the devil in Catholic art.

The way Spanish missionaries saw Aztec gods affected the meaning of paintings in New

Spain. The devil was represented the same way in New World art as in European art. Even though these paintings showed the European devil and contained the European concept of evil, these representations were related to New World idolatry and indigenous divinities.

140 Ibid, 130.

141 Ibid, 131-32.

142 “Alain Manesson Mallet,” Wikipedia, accessed December 07 2014, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Manesson_Mallet.

94 Interpretation of San Miguel Arcángel by Luis Juárez

Saint Michael defeating the devil, as we have seen, signifies the triumph of good over evil, or the triumph of Christianity over sin and heresy. Saint Michael, representing good, is always victorious and the vanquished devil represents evil. The scene of the Apocalypse has the same religious significance of good over evil in Europe and in the New World. Therefore, Saint

Michael by Luis Juárez expresses this Catholic concept. However, while it represents the

Christian idea of the triumph of the Church, at the same time it may have been created to elevate

Spanish conquerors’ pride and sense of superiority over Aztec religion. Michael can be further understood as a Spanish conqueror, whereas the devil can be read as an Aztec god.

The Archangel Michael as a Spanish Conqueror

Michael is dressed as a Roman soldier, thus appearing as Southern Europe’s most archetypal conqueror. The Romans conquered Spain in the third century BCE and controlled the

Iberian Peninsula until the fourth century CE. They imposed their law, language, and religion.

They also created prosperous cities with temples, aqueducts, public baths, theaters, and amphitheaters. Roman soldiers had an important place in society since they received lands when their service ended, and Publius Cornelius Scipio, a Roman general, established a colony of veteran soldiers near Seville in 206 BCE. Important cities of Roman Spain enjoyed a high status because of their strategic advantages.143 Christianity came to Iberia in the second century, and by the fourth century it received legal recognition throughout the Roman Empire and expanded quickly.144 In New Spain, Spanish conquerors considered themselves defenders of the Catholic

Church at the same time they honored the Roman legacy of empire building and thus identified with the Romanized archangel Michael. This image of the archangel helped conquerors keep

143 Phillips, A Concise History, 21-3, 25.

144 Ibid, 29.

95 their spirits high. At the time of the painting, around 1620, there were still conquerors trying to defeat indigenous groups in other territories of New Spain. Mexico City was already under

Spanish control, but there were descendants of conquerors and first settlers who became part of creole society. Creoles in general were always considered descendants of conquerors and colonizers, for which they felt superiority. Creole society enjoyed high status in the colonial hierarchy. Even though some creoles lived in poverty, their spirit of conquerors and European superiority persisted. Also, conquerors always claimed recognition, rewards, and status because of their heroic achievements. The heroic image of Saint Michael inspired creoles’ heroic spirit in colonial society.

The painting by Luis Juárez is undoubtedly related to conquerors, colonizers, and their descendants. Surviving documentation indicates that the artwork was part of an altar screen in the church of Jesús María. The church was part of the convent opened to care for daughters and granddaughters of conquerors and colonizers who had fallen into poverty. These girls were now part of creole society in Mexico. Since the girls were poor and in danger of falling into disgrace, authorities of the convent intended to preserve their honor. Their creole position made them respectable people who could not live in misfortune. Those girls, together with their parents or grandparents, needed to elevate their pride. Even though they were poor, they had connections to the conquest. Saint Michael was the perfect image to help these people kindle the spirit of heroic conquest.

The location of the church and convent of Jesús María also indicates that the altar screen where the painting belonged was directed only to Spaniards (peninsular and creoles). The buildings, still standing, are located downtown, a few blocks from the Cathedral. They were constructed above the remains of what was the Aztec Ceremonial Precinct. In colonial times, this

96 central area belonged to Spaniards, so it was difficult for this painting to be seen by indigenous people. The territories for indigenous people were in the surroundings areas. Churches and schools were constructed exclusively for their education and religious life, but they were not in the central area.

San Miguel Arcángel by Luis Juárez follows the physical appearance of Michaels painted in Europe. He is a handsome youth with light skin color and blond hair. In Europe, the Spanish had the concept of blood purity, which meant to be clean of Jewish and Muslim blood. This concept was brought to New Spain, but it was more related to race. In colonial Mexico, the social hierarchy was structured according to race. The Spanish considered themselves to be the purest race and put themselves at the top of this hierarchy. It is likely that not all Spaniards were light- skinned, but visualizing the concept of blood purity by way of lightness permitted them to articulate their difference from the rest of the people. Even though at the beginning of the colony the system of castas145 was not well developed, differences of races already existed. Keeping separate records, like parish books of Spaniards and Indians, means that the differences were already important. This difference toward the others may have been reflected in the light skin of

Michael, who may have represented this purity of blood.

The archangel Michael had strong connections to the Jesuits, in Spain and in New Spain.

This religious order was usually related to highly educated society. In Spain, Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, was a soldier before becoming a priest. The Jesuits considered themselves God’s soldiers and took the image of the archangel Michael as their banner. They used this representation of Michael for their evangelization in America. Treatises dedicated to this angel were written by Jesuits such as Eusebio Nieremberg and Francisco García. In New

145 The term castas refers to the mixed racial groups that inhabited the New Spain. Katzew, “Casta Painting,” 6.

97 Spain, the Jesuits had strong ties with, and educated, members of the creole society. The church of Jesús María was also related to the Jesuits. Pedro Moya de Contreras, one of the founders of the church who took his niece Micaela de los Ángeles to the convent, had good relations with the

Jesuits. When the first Jesuits arrived in New Spain in 1572, he was happy to hear the news and went to receive them at San Juan de Ulúa.146 This link to the Jesuits associates San Miguel

Arcángel with to the highest echelons of colonial society.

San Miguel Archángel was painted in the European tradition; there is no trace of hybridity. Since the beginning of the colony, Indians started to do Christian art, but their touch is not seen in this work. They developed techniques like enconchado [art with mother of pearl] and arte plumario [feather work]. They also collaborated in creating colonial codices, and their style was often similar to the styles used in Pre-Columbian murals and codices. No technique or style used by the Indians was employed in this painting, as the artist hired for this project was Luis

Juárez, a creole artist. He was a renowned painter and these two factors gave prestige to the commission. These characteristics relate the painting to the Spaniards.

The Devil as an Aztec god

Artists in medieval Europe used three elements to demonize the ancient gods in art: nudity, inversion of the figure, and the addition of demonic features. Figures 3-10, 3-11, and 3-

12 show how idols were demonized using these three features. Those features were all used in

Luis Juárez’ depiction of the devil. This devil is totally naked, which in Pre-Columbian culture, as well as Medieval and Renaissance Europe, signified humiliation and degradation. The devil is also falling down, in an inverted position, with negative meanings suggesting inversion and chaos, as well as Satan’s status as a fallen angel. Demonic features were added, such as the

146 Poole, Pedro Moya de Contreras, 94.

98 elongated ears, the tail, claws, and bat wings. Manuscripts of the early colony created by the early missionaries also show Aztec idols given these same features with the intention of demonizing them. All these elements are used in the devil by Luis Juárez, suggesting an additional reading of the figure as an Aztec idol.

The painting was created during a time of continued indigenous resistance. In Mexico

City most of the indigenous people were already converted, but many of them continued clandestine worship of their ancient gods. The painting may also have been used as propaganda for eliminating idolatry. In addition, the altarpiece where San Miguel Arcángel was displayed was well connected to the Inquisition. Phillip II, protector of the church and convent, was responsible for establishing the office of the Inquisition in New Spain. Moya de Contreras had the title of apostolic inquisitor, and he performed his activity of inquisitor in Spain before arriving in the New World. One intention of the Holy Office was to eliminate heresy. While by

1615 the Inquisition no longer persecuted Indians who committed idolatry, the first inquisitorial practices in Mexico were spurred by concerns about the spread of Indian idolatry. The connection of the painting San Miguel Árcangel to the Inquisition could signify that the authorities wanted to show that the church and the convent were clean and unrelated to idolatry.

The skin color of the devil contrasts with that of Saint Michael. It may signify inferiority of race. As mentioned above, the concept of castas started in the eighteenth century, but differences of races and the hierarchy according to ethnicity were already important in the first half of the sixteenth century. Since the Spaniards arrived, they felt superior to the Indians because they considered themselves to be pure blooded Christians. Furthermore, in some representations of the devil in European Christian art, the devil appears in a darker color sometimes black. This color was related to pollution, in contrast to the whiteness and purity of

99 angels. This darker color could have been used to suggest the indigenous idolatrous culture’s inferiority to Spanish culture. This inferiority of the devil aggrandizes the image of Michael.

Everything indicates that the painting San Miguel Árcangel was created for a Spanish audience. The Spanish colonizers likely identified themselves with the archangel Michael and related their conquest of the land to the defeat of idolatry. The defeat of the devil enlarges the image of St. Michael; the elimination of idolatry would make Spanish society superior. The magnification of the greatness of the archangel elevated the spirit of the Spanish society. The conquest was a heroic event to be celebrated; the painting helped creole society remain connected to this achievement through time.

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Figure 4-1. Battle of Aztec and Chichimec Warriors, 1570’s. South wall of church of San Miguel de Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, Mexico.

Figure 4-2. Battle Scenes, 1570’s. South wall of church of San Miguel de Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, Mexico.

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Figure 4-3. Cristóbal de Villalpando, Virgin of the Apocalypse, c. 1685. Oil on canvas, 899 x 766 cm. Sacristy, Mexico City Cathedral.

Figure 4-4. Miguel Cabrera, Virgin of the Apocalypse, c. 1760. Oil on canvas, 340 x 352.7 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City.

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Figure 4-5. Juan Correa, Saint Michael Archangel, late 17th century. Oil on canvas, 164 x 141 cm. Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City.

Figure 4-6. Teocalli, 1519-1540. Florentine Codex, Book 11-Earthly Things, Part XII, Illustration 884, pg. 277. Latin American Collection, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

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Figure 4-7. Vessel with Effigy of Tlaloc, 1440-1469. Ceramic. Museo Templo Mayor, Mexico City.

Figure 4-8. Huitzilopochtli wielding the Xiuhcoatl fire serpent. Image from An Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, p. 95. Original image from Codex Borbonicus, p. 34, 16th century.

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Figure 4-9. Huitzilopochtli in Demonic Guise. Allain Manesson Mallet Description de l’Universe, Paris 1683, British Library.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Marcela Varona was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico. In 2008, Marcela earned her bachelor degree in Fine Arts from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) with a major in painting. During her studies, she worked in Special Collections at the UTEP Library from 2005 to 2008. After that, she worked for the Centennial Museum at the UTEP campus as Collections

Assistant. While pursuing her career in Fine Arts, she completed a certification in Exhibition

Practices. She received the Vera Wise Memorial Scholarship and obtained the Sarah and Tom

Lea Purchase Award for Best Life Drawing or Life Painting in 2008. She graduated with Cum

Laude honors.

In the summer 2012 she completed her Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, focusing in the areas of Public History, Humanities and Art History. During this time, she worked in the Centennial Museum, where projects included the ceiling mural painting of three of the galleries. She received a Study Abroad Scholarship for the Layers of Rome program and a

UTEP History Department Scholarship for the Public History Internship in 2010.

In the summer of 2015, Ms. Varona completed her Master of Arts in Art History at the

University of Florida with a focus on Spanish Colonial painting in Mexico. During her studies, she earned a certificate in Latin American Studies. She received a Field Research Grant from the

Latin American Department for her thesis research in Mexico City in June 2014.

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