Overview

The valley of Malinalco, Mexico, long renowned for its monolithic Aztec temples, is a microcosm of the historical changes that occurred in the centuries preceding and following the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. In particular, the garden frescoes uncovered in 1974 at the Augustinian monastery of Malinalco document the collision of the European search for Utopia with the reality of colonial life. In this study, Jeanette F. Peterson examines the murals within the dual heritage of pre-Hispanic and European muralism to reveal how the wall paintings promoted the political and religious agendas of the Spanish conquerors while preserving a record of pre-Columbian rituals and imagery. She finds that the utopian themes portrayed at Malinalco and other Augustinian monasteries were integrated into a religious and political ideology that, in part, camouflaged the harsh realities of colonial policies toward the native population. That the murals were ultimately whitewashed at the end of the sixteenth century suggests that the ""spiritual conquest"" failed. Peterson argues that the incorporation of native features ultimately worked to undermine the orthodoxy of the Christian message. She places the murals' imagery within the pre-Columbian tlacuilo (scribe-painter) tradition, traces a ""Sahagun connection"" between the Malinalco muralists and the native artists working at the Franciscan school of Tlatelolco, and explores mural painting as an artistic response to acculturation. The book is beautifully illustrated with 137 black-and-white figures, including photographs and line drawings. For everyone interested in the encounter between European and Native American cultures, it will be essential reading.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jeanette Favrot Peterson
Publisher:   University of Texas Press
Imprint:   University of Texas Press
Dimensions:   Width: 21.60cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 27.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780292769175

ISBN 10:   0292769172
Pages:   246
Publication Date:   01 March 1993
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface Chapter One. Introduction Chapter Two. Malinalco and the Augustinians Conquest and Control of Malinalco The Augustinian Program Construction of the Monastery of Malinalco Chapter Three. The Painters European and Native Painting Styles The Artistic Team and the Tlacuilo Training of Native Artists Chapter Four. The Sources Pre-Hispanic and Spanish Mural Precedents Illustrated Books and Graphics Verdure and Armorial Tapestry Chapter Five. The Imagery: Flora and Fauna Flora Identified Fauna Identified Meaning of Flora and Fauna Chapter Six. Paradise Converged Gardens and Curing Gardens as Cosmic Paradigms Gardens as Paradise Chapter Seven. Utopia and Imperial Policy The New World as a Terrestrial Paradise Patronage and Program Mendicant Dominion and Heraldry in the Garden Murals Chapter Eight. The Augustinian Mural Program Public and Private Zones in the Monastery The Malinalco Mural Program Augustinian Eschatological Murals Chapter Nine. Utopia Lost Mendicant Decline Whitewashing the Murals Appendix A. Sixteenth-Century Mexican Monasteries Visited Appendix B. Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-Century Murals in Spain Appendix C. Flora in the Malinalco Garden Frescoes Appendix D. Fauna in the Malinalco Garden Frescoes Appendix E. Sixteenth-Century Mural Themes in Mexico and Primary Monastic Locations Notes References Cited Index

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Author Information

Jeanette Favrot Peterson is Associate Professor in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is the coeditor of Seeing Across Cultures: Visuality in the Early Modern Period.

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