The Virgin of the Andes Archangels Arth 224: Colonial to Contemporary Latin American Art Dr. Mey-Yen Moriuchi Spring 2015.

The Virgin of the AndesArchangels

Arth 224: Colonial to Contemporary Latin American ArtDr. Mey-Yen Moriuchi

Spring 2015

• The Coya (or Queen) was the woman most venerated among the Indians. She was a goddess, the descendant of the Moon and she was the queen, the wife/sister of the Inka king.

• Her attributes included weaving implements, feathers, birds, flowers, tipi pins,and other ornaments.

The Virgin of the Andes: Inka Queen and Christian Goddess

Unknown (Peruvian), Coya Mamahuaco, Historia General del Peru, 1590-1613

Unknown (Peruvian), Portrait of a Coya or Ñusta, c. 1730-50.

Unknown (Peruvian), Portrait of a Coya or Ñusta, 18th c.

• When the Spaniards conquered the Inka Empire, the reverence to the Inka Coya would persist in Christian images of the Virgin Mary, the Catholic Queen.

• People have revered the Virgin Mary for centuries but in Cuzco, Peru she is portrayed as a distinctive image that fuses Christian and Andean concepts.

• Artists of Cuzco created a school of painting, known as the Cuzco School, where they portrayed her in multiple ways.

Unknown (Peruvian, Cuzco). Virgin of the Mary of the Rosary of Guapulo, c. 1680.

• By incorporating the imagery and symbolism associated with Andean female deities and other royal personalities, the colonial image of the Virgin Mary assumed new significance as an Andean, rather than a purely European/Western deity.

• Her Christian-Spanish iconography coexisted with its counterpart inspired by deities such as the Earth Mother, called Pachamama, and the Goddess of the Moon, Quilla. She was also a Queen to the native peoples- an Inka Coya.

Unknown (Bolivian), The Virgin of the Mountain (Pachamama), 18th c.

Unknown (Bolivia) Virgin Mary of the Cerro Rico of Potosi, 18th century, o/c. Casa Nacional de Moneda, Potosi.

Luis Niño, Virgin of the Rosary with Saints Dominic and Francis of Assisi, c. 1737.

Luis Niño, Our Lady of the Victory of Málaga, c. 1735, o/c

Unknown (Cuzco School), Painting of a Statue of the Virgin of Candlemas, mid 18th c.

Unknown (Peruvian), Virgin of Cocharcas,18th c..

Unknown, Virgin of Belem, first half 18th c.

Unknown (Cuzco School), Virgin as a Young Girl Spinning, 18th c.

Unknown (Peruvian, Cuzco School), Saint Rose of Lima, 18th c.

Archangels

• A unique genre of paintings of extraordinary archangels holding guns – harquebusiers or ángeles arcabuceros- developed in the New World (predominantly Andean region)

• The representations of archangels were important demonstrations of the power and control of the Spanish Habsburg empire over Spanish America

Unknown (Peruvian, Cuzco School), Archangel Raphael, 18th c.

Unknown (Peruvian, Cuzco School), Archangel Raphael, 18th c.

Master of Calamarca (Bolivianl), The Angel Barachiel, 18th c.

• Veneration of the seven archangels originated in the 15th century.• They include Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Sealchiel, Jehudiel, and Barachiel• Only Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael appeared in the Bible. The other 4 had appeared

miraculously to a Portuguese nobleman. • The Seven angelic princes were described in a 1516 book by a Sicilian priest and eventually

adopted into visual form through a series of paintings. They became particularly popular in the Viceroyalty of Peru.

• The viceregal angels appeared to be crusaders for and defenders of the Habsburg faith and governance.

Unknown (Peruvian, Cuzco School), Archangel Michael, 18th c.

Unknown (Peruvian, Cuzco School), Archangel Raphael, c. 1720.

• The archangels are often dressed in the aristocratic manner of the Spanish viceroys• The archangels are portraits symbolic of both the Church and the Habsburg state

José Joaquín BermejoDon José Antonio Manso de VelascoCount of Superunda, Viceroy of Peruc. 1761-66

Joaquín GutiérrezViceroy José Solís Folch de Cardona

After 1770, Colombian

Unknown (Peruvian, Cuzco School), Archangel with Harquebus, early 18th c.

Unknown (Peruvian, Cuzco School), Archangel Barachiel with Harquebus, 18th c.

Joseph

VirginAndes

Unknown (Peruvian Cuzco School), The Virgin of the Mountain (Pachamama), c. 1766.