Served on a Plate: Engraved Sources of San Diego De Alcalá's
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
arts Article Served on a Plate: Engraved Sources of San Diego de Alcalá’s ‘Miraculous Meal’ for the Franciscans of Santiago, Chile (ca. 1710) Catherine Burdick Centro de Investigación en Artes y Humanidades, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 8380453, Chile; [email protected] Abstract: There exists a consensus in academic literature regarding the centrality of engraved prototypes for the production of colonial paintings in the Spanish Americas. In Peru, these artistic models were written into legal contracts between painters and clients. An examination of the notarial contracts produced in Cusco from 1650 to 1700 suggests that prototypes in a variety of formats were not only central to artistic professional practice, but that adherence to their images may have provided one motive for entering into such agreements. This study leans upon the centrality of Flemish print sources to confirm the attribution of a partial canvas at the Pinacoteca Universidad de Concepción, Chile as an episode of the series on the life of Diego de Alcalá (c. 1710) in Santiago, Chile. Commissioned from Cusco by the Franciscans of Santiago, the status of the hagiographic cycle as the most extensive ever produced on the subject of this missionary saint dictates that a multiplicity of sources was necessary for its creation. By identifying two engravings that served as its models, this study recovers the subject of this painting as a miracle that sustained Diego during an arduous journey. Citation: Burdick, Catherine. 2021. Keywords: colonial paintings; engravings; Diego de Alcalá; Cusco; Santiago de Chile Served on a Plate: Engraved Sources of San Diego de Alcalá’s ‘Miraculous Meal’ for the Franciscans of Santiago, Chile (ca. 1710). Arts 10: 30. https: 1. Introduction //doi.org/10.3390/arts10020030 The study of colonial painting in the southern Andean sphere should take into consid- eration the breadth of the imported and local sources that informed its creation, including Academic Editor: Alena Robin the Flemish prints that arrived to South America on Spanish galleons (Dean 1996). En- graved images, particularly those produced in Antwerp, have emerged as a productive Received: 26 February 2021 inroad for comprehending how the circulation of styles and themes between Europe and Accepted: 20 April 2021 the Americas supported the enormous need for religious iconographies in the Viceroyalty Published: 29 April 2021 of Peru. When Italian and Spanish painters arrived to Lima, Cusco, and other southern Andean artistic centers during the late 1500s and early 1600s, they introduced into local Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral practice a longstanding European tradition of consulting printed models for compositional with regard to jurisdictional claims in arrangements and figural poses (Cruz de Amenábar 1986, pp. 53–59; Ojeda di Ninno published maps and institutional affil- iations. 2009; Wuffarden 2014a, 2014b). Engravings were also deployed throughout Latin America during the sixteenth century for purposes of didacticism and conversion, for instance friars such as Franciscan Diego Valadés lauded such images as mechanisms for and proof of indigenous acceptance of Catholicism and Spanish colonialism (Donahue-Wallace 2008). In recent years, the study of the visual arts of the Spanish Americas through their imported Copyright: © 2021 by the author. sources has gained momentum, thereby enriching our understanding of the global cir- Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. culation of iconographies and materials (Porras 2016). Archival records such as notarial This article is an open access article contracts provide evidence that patrons provided images as models for emulation, many distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons of which were engraved (Dean 1996; Verdi Webster 2017, p. 46). One benefit of focusing Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// upon the itinerant images on paper that inspired colonial Andean art is their potential role creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ for the thematic recovery of paintings that have suffered the ravages of time or have been 4.0/). disconnected from their original contexts of production and display. With this in mind, in Arts 2021, 10, 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/arts10020030 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/arts Arts 2021, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 17 Arts 2021, 10, 30 2 of 16 or have been disconnected from their original contexts of production and display. With whatthis in follows, mind, Iin lean what upon follows, the centrality I lean upon of Flemish the centrality prints in of the Flemish Andean prints painting in the tradition Andean inpainting order to traditio identifyn in the order subject to identify of a partial the canvassubject in of Chile. a partial canvas in Chile. AA charming charming croppedcropped oiloil painting titled MonksMonks Beneath Beneath a aTree Tree (Monjes(Monjes bajo bajo un un árbolárbol) in) inthe the collection collection of the of thePinacoteca Pinacoteca Universidad Universidad de Concepción de Concepci hasón been has attributed been attributed on stylistic on stylisticgrounds grounds to the hagiographic to the hagiographic cycle representing cycle representing the life theof Diego life of Diegode Alcalá de Alcalat theá atMuseo the Museode Arte de Colonial Arte Colonial de San deFrancisco San Francisco in Santiago in Santiago (Figure (Figure 1; Pinacoteca1; Pinacoteca Universidad Universidad de Con- decepción Concepci 2011).ón Carried2011). Carried out in c. out 1710 in by c. an 1710 unknown by an unknown workshop workshop in Cusco and in Cusco comprised and comprisedof at least forty of at- leastseven forty-seven sequentially sequentially-numbered-numbered episodes executed episodes on executed linen, the on series linen, is the the seriesmost isextensive the most to extensivehave ever tobeen have produced ever been on the produced subject onof this the fifteenth subject of-century this fifteenth- Spanish centurysaint. Without Spanish any saint. single Without precursor any single in Europe precursor or the in Americas Europe or upon the Americas which the upon entire which cycle thecould entire have cycle been could based, have many been of based, its episodes many of had its episodesno direct hadprototype no direct at prototypeall. Hence atin all.the Hencecourse in of the its coursecreation, of its its anonymous creation, its artists anonymous consulted artists an consultedastonishing an array astonishing of printed array and ofperhaps printed painted and perhaps models; painted to mention models; an illustrative to mention example, an illustrative a Jesuit example, print depicting a Jesuit printa new depictingmethod for a new measuring method longitude for measuring was the longitude source wasfor a the painting source showing for a painting Diego’s showing stormy Diego’spassage stormy in the passageCanary inIslands. the Canary While Islands. we currently While welack currently documentation lack documentation to confirm that to confirmFranciscan that clients Franciscan in Santiago clients in indeed Santiago provided indeed models provided for models the creation for the of creation the Diego of the de DiegoAlcalá de cycle, Alcal aá contractcycle, a contractproduced produced in Cusco in that Cusco formalized that formalized a similar a similarcommission commission permits permitsus to understand us to understand how such how an suchagreement an agreement might have might been have structured been structured to include to engraved include engravedprototypes prototypes for emulation; for emulation; in 1691, inFranciscan 1691, Franciscan friar Diego friar d Diegoe Ayala de commissioned Ayala commissioned indige- indigenousnous master master painters painters Juan Inca Juan Raurahua Inca Raurahua and Juan and Sinchi Juan Sinchi Roca to Roca “produce to “produce four dozen four dozenpaintings paintings of different of different dimensions dimensions that conform that conform to the to models the models given given by said by said (friar) (friar) and andwhich which are are to tobe befinished finished within within three three months months …paying... paying them them six six pesos pesos for eacheach canvas”canvas” 1 (Cornejo(Cornejo Bouroncle Bouroncle 1952 1952,, p. p.113 113).).1 InIn whatwhat follows,follows, II contendcontend thatthat aa fruitful fruitful method method for for recoveringrecovering the the subject subject of of the the partial partial canvas canvas in in Concepci Concepciónón is is through through the the identification identification of of thethe engraved engraved prototypes prototypes that that guided guided its its completion, completio therebyn, thereby filling filling a gap a gap in this in this remarkable remark- andable understudied and understudied cycle ofcycle colonial of colonial paintings. paintings. Figure 1. Anonymous workshop at Cusco. Monjes bajo un árbol (Monks Beneath a Tree). c. 1710. Oil Figure 1. Anonymous workshop at Cusco. Monjes bajo un árbol (Monks Beneath a Tree). c. 1710. Oil on canvas. 112.5 × 116 cm. Pinacoteca Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Artwork in the public × ondomain canvas. according 112.5 116to Chilean cm. Pinacoteca copyright Universidad law. Author dephotograph. Concepció n, Chile. Artwork in the public domain according to Chilean copyright law. Author photograph. The protagonist depicted in this cropped canvas, Diego de Acalá, was born in c. 1400 at the port town of San Nicolás near Seville (Vega 1988, pp. 2–4). Upon joining the Order 1 As John Alan Crider has observed (1991, pp. 66–67), an interesting feature of this