Localizing Sacredness, Difference, and Yachacuscamcani in A
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Localizing Sacredness, Difference, and Yachacuscamcani a in Colonial Andean Painting Stella Nair Nuestra Se?ora de Montserrat stands on a tices and beliefs also became one of windswept pampa way visualizing and in the south-central Andes. This colonial church is built cultural seven early interpreting change. By the latter half of the on the remains of an Inca estate in town imperial royal the of teenth century, indigenous artistsworked fluidly in European Per? as as Chinchero, (Fig. 1). Its plain facade, well the styles and media, transforming European traditions to fit the modest houses of the local masks the Andean context. Francisco Chivan an parishioners, opulence tito, important artist in of what lies within. the massive seventeenth the Cuzco the late exem Just beyond region during seventeenth century, doors are walls made of Inca stones century imperial and plifies this phenomenon. His portrait of the Virgin ofMont colonial adobe bricks with extensive serrat was in nave Spanish along murals, hung the of the church in Chinchero, an and an intricate Even after cen Inca estate that came paintings, Mudejar ceiling. imperial royal under Spanish control turies of neglect, the grandeur of the church's interior testi during the Viceroyalty of Per?.2 fies to its prior significance. At first glance, the iconography of this painting appears to One of the nine paintings, approximately by thirteen feet be strictlySpanish in origin.3 The Virgin of Montserrat is a four the titular saint of the from a venerated (three by meters), depicts parish holy image Catalan, sculpture associated set within an elaborate to landscape (Fig. 2). Dating 1693, with the mountain of Montserrat (Fig. 3).4 It represents a this painting imaginatively represents theVirgin of Montser seated Virgin who holds the Christ Child, both of whom rat, a venerated Catalan in an elaborate scene of an in hands. figure, display orb, opposing In subsequent versions, and in a the are religious figures setting featuring acclaimed the Virgin and Child depicted surrounded by religious Iberian mountain of Montserrat. The most and an intriguing aspect patrons, young music-making acolytes, impressive of this is how it conflates different mountainous to moun composition drastically backdrop (Fig. 4). The references in the universal of the of Montser tains and refer to landscapes space Virgin music the legend that her icon was discov rat's cult. The shows the not ered when music was a cave a painting Virgin foregrounded heard coming from in moun within a but also within an Andean tain called Montserrat. Music became an only Spanish landscape important aspect of one filled with Inca elites, commoners, the of Montserrat's in in indigenous imperial Virgin community Spain. Beginning Inca and a sacred Andean mountain. the thirteenth a school for buildings, century, boys called the escolania The artist and Chinchero native Francisco Chi indigenous taught singing, instrumentation, and composition, and the vantito made the of Montserrat a vibrant a Virgin during very young performers made vital contribution to the basilica and in Andean when services for the and were into her dynamic period painting, indigenous Virgin integrated iconog artists trained in artistic translated local European practices raphy. traditions into their new and The mountain of which came to a works, creating forms, styles, Montserrat, play central artistic This mediation of role practices.1 indigenous European in the iconography associated with this particular Ma traditions visualizes the cross is also to as can pictorial dramatically complex donna, very important Catalan identity, it be cultural that characterized the Andes the seen from most in negotiations during places the region. Therefore, the moun tain of Montserrat in served as not a Spanish occupation. Spain only Christian how both and artistic an By illustrating indigenous European symbol but also emblem of regional identity. Since the were with and transformed in the name Montserrat is derived from the Latin word practices critically engaged meaning Andean context, Chivantito's the "sawed the of a saw was to painting highlights pro mountain," image added her cesses of dislocation and transculturation that characterized in In later or iconography Europe. images, hovering angels that colonial encounter. a careful Through analysis of the the Christ Child (sitting in theVirgin's lap) are shown sawing we will see the intricate and localized in a Elements image, highly ways mountaintop.5 depicting life around the actual which one and contested shrine of as community constructed, construed, Montserrat, such the Benedictine monastery, its in the form of and landscape space, iconography, architecture, pilgrimage routes, hermitages, entered into the saint's and nature. The and as dress, status, deeply meaningful layered iconography well (Figs. 5, 6).6 The Virgin's reputed mira narrative and issues of dif cles turned the one exposes interrogates sacredness, Virgin of Montserrat into of the most and the of traditions. In ference, practice indigenous doing important Marian shrines in Spain. Chivantito's moves so, pictorial narrative both enunciates and Bern?t Boil, a Benedictine friar who was one of the first the colonial encounter. In the it missionaries in the beyond process, presents Americas, transported the Virgin's story one of the few known of local in and likeness to examples landscape painting theNew World. Despite his efforts,along with colonial Latin America. those of the friars and individual patrons, the cult of the Virgin never attained the popularity in the territories that it The of Montserrat in Catalonia and the Andes in Virgin enjoyed Spain.7 This failure is surprising, particularly the colonial in the Andes since some communities the as During period (approximately during Spanish occupation made to commemorate Catholic sociated the 1532-1824), painting prac Virgin Mary with local sacred mountains.8 For ART BULLETIN LXXXIX NUMBER 212 JUNE 2007 VOLUME 2 1 Church of Nuestra Se?ora de Montserrat, Chinchero, Peru, with plaza and niched wall in the foreground (photograph by the author) on X X 2 Francisco Chivan tito, Virgin ofMontserrat, 1693, oil canvas, 9 13 ft. (3 4 m). Church of Nuestra Se?ora de Montserrat, Chinchero (artwork in the public domain; photograph by Richard L. Kagan) in the of the south-central was not onto Christian example, highlands Andes, special however, directly mapped iconogra mountains were understood to be historians of in Apus, that is, places phy. As religion the Americas have shown, marked out as sacred and venerated. In mountain ideas and are or addition, practices of sacredness rarely straightforward peaks and unusual rock outcrops (huacas) became sites of easily transferable.9 Chivantito's painting of the Virgin of mass and sacrifice. These sacred Montserrat private devotion, pilgrimage, against her mountainous landscape visualizes this were understood to be of Pachamama of and spaces expressions complex process religious integration, conflict, evolu of a sa tion. ("earth mother"), revealing the Andean association cred female with a venerated mountain. This In the Chinchero we see the standard Montserrat association, painting, A COLONIAL ANDEAN PAINTING 213 iconography from Spain with few alterations (Figs. 2, 7). The seated Virgin holds an orb in one hand (fromwhich a flower protrudes) and the Christ Child in another. The Child holds not an orb but a small saw. music and Acolytes playing friars surround the Virgin. God the Father and the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove hover above the Christ Child. On either side of God the Father kneel supplicants, most likely the with Saint In the mountainous Apostles Joseph. landscape central one framing this group, peak is in the process of two scenes are being sawed by angels and additional shown. On the Virgin's right is an idealized pilgrimage scene with crosses and the is chapels dotting mountaintops. On her left the church and main square of Chinchero. This was one of a series painting in the Chinchero church devoted to the life of Mary. Of the remaining paintings from the the of Montserrat is one series, Virgin image the only in or An painted detail, showing multiple scenes, carrying dean references. This series was probably commissioned by Bishop Manuel de Mollinedo y?ngulo, who in 1673 brought with him a large collection of paintings from Europe for copying and distribution among the local churches in the Cuzco To this Mollinedo region.10 encourage dissemination, ordered that each church a series of commission paintings of its we depicting the life titular saint.11 As shall see, the Chinchero painting was most likelybased on a Spanish original. Andean Copies of European Prints and Paintings Copying originals in the form of prints and sometimes paint has a in a common ings long history Europe and became practice among artists in the colonial New World.12 Artists could use and as to prints paintings models from which copy, either in or in their Because were to part entirety. they easy were transport, moreover, prints often employed in mission 3 La Moreneta (the Virgin of Montserrat) (artwork in the ary work and religious instruction, and with the opening of public domain; photograph by the author) the to Americas Christian evangelization, the demand for Prints were even made prints grew tremendously. specifically as for export to the New World to serve tools in the process of conversion, to be used either directly by priests or as working in Chinchero.16 The central image is of a seated sources of for local artists. one imagery Virgin who, like the in the Chinchero image, holds in Religious authorities in the New World believed that the one hand an orb with a lilyprotruding and in the other hand practice of copying prints enabled local artists to learn the the Christ Child, who holds a saw (Fig.