The Word Made Image

RELIGION, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN ~

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WAY COURT

XXVIII

THE WORD MADE IMAGE

THE WORD MADE IMAGE: R ELIGIO I

, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE

SPAIN A

D SPA

ISH AMERICA,

1500-1600

I SABELLA STEWART GARD

Fenway Court Volum e XXVIII

ER MUSEUM

Published by the Trustees of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Two Palace Road Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Š 1998 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum ISB

T 0-9648475-7-4

ISSN 0430-3091 The essays in this publication were originally presented at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as The Word Made Image:

Religion, Art, and Architecture in Spain and Spanish America, 1500- 1600, the Museum's fifth annual interdisciplinary symposium, which was held in 1996 and was funded through a generous donation from Charles 0. Wood III and Miriam M. Wood.

Cover: Joan de Santacruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua's drawing of the universe. (Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, MS 3169,

fol. l 3v.)

The Word Made Image: Religion, Art, and Architecture in Spain and Spanish America, 1500- 1600 is volum e XA'VIII of Fenway Court.

Distributed by University Press of New England H anover and London

C0

TE

TS

7

Foreword

Anne Hawley The Word Made Image: Religion, Art, and Architecture in Spain

9

and Spanish America, 1500-1600

Jonathan Brown Prescott's Paradigm: AN ew Look at a Bostonian's Image of Sixteenth-Century Spain

16

Richard L. Kagan Image and Devotion in Late Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-Century Spanish Painting

30

Lynette M. F. Bosch El Greco's Altarpieces for the Chapel of Saint Joseph: Devotion, Politics, and Artistic Innovation in Counter-Reformation Toledo

46

Richard G. Mann

66

Body and Soul in the Basilica of the Escorial

Catherine Wilkinson Zemer Representations of Conversion: Sixteenth-Century Architecture in

ew Spain

91

Clara Bargellini Art in a Missionary Context: Images from Europe and the Andes in the Church of Andahuaylillas near Cuzco

Sabine MacConnack

103

FOR EWO RD

Anne Hawle y Dir ecto r

The Word Made Image: Religion, Art, and Architecture in Spain and Spanish America, 1500- 1600 is a coll ection of the papers pre-

graph on Velazquez . Dr. Brown was joined

se nted at the Museum's 1996 interdiscipli-

the preconceptions and misconceptions

nary symposium, the fifth in our annual

underpinning nineteenth-century scholarly

series. As noted by its coordinator, th e symposium provided a "close look at art in

New England's id eas of sixteenth-century

by a group of renowned scholars who presented papers on subj ects that includ ed :

Spain and Spanish Ameri ca in the Golden

Spain and th e impac t of th ese conceptions on our own attitudes; th e d evotional and

Age as a vehicle for understanding the

political contexts of civic altarpieces in

interaction of doctrine, devotion , and th e

sixtee nth-c entury Spain; and the ultimate

visual arts." Th e Muse um itself gives visual

Spanish exemplar of Catholi c Reform

express ion to that cultural and spiritual

architecture - th e Esco rial. Other topics

interface in the Spanish Chapel and

disc ussed were the influence of spiritual

Spanish Cloister on its entry floor , where

practice on fifteenth- and sixtee nth-century

th e arts of Spain and M exico over several

Spanish painting; th e inte rrelationsh ip

centuries rest easily alongsid e John Singer

b etwee n Spanish and lo cal traditions in

Sargent's El Jaleo and Islamic and mudejar

th e evo luti on of sixteenth-ce ntury archi-

works of art. In a broader se n se, the Gardner Museum is, in part, a refl ection of

tecture in Mexico; and th e commingling

Isabella Gardner's interest in th e en gage-

in a sixtee nth-century Peruvian church .

m ent of Europ ea n art and culture with

While the subj ects were diverse, th e speak-

that of th e American co ntinent.

The coordinator of th e symposium, Dr.

ers wove th em into a coherent whole.

Jonathan Brown, is the Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor of Fine Arts at th e Institute

together diverse program s that also makes today's Gardner Museum an exciting and

of Fine Arts, New York University and is a

coh esive entity. Such program s include tem-

celebrated scholar of Hispani c art and

porary exhibitions; artists in residen ce; the

author of a recent award-winning mono-

Eye of the Beholder lectures by individuals

of Spani sh and And ean images and beliefs

It is that sam e approach of weaving

7

celebrated for their visual and intellectual

Once again, the symposium was made

creativity in various disciplines; a concert

possible through a generous donation

series offering mu sic that range s from music of the Baroque to contemporary jazz;

from Charles 0 . Wood III and Miriam M. Wood. Th eir devotion to making the "life

and our ongoing work with students,

of th e mind" accessible to our public has

teachers, and curricula in our local com-

been the touchstone of their unstinting

munity. By actively engaging in scholarship, artistry, and the education of our yo uth , th e

support for thi s Museum . We a re profoundl y grateful for their continuing sup-

Muse um is preserving and fostering the

port of this exciting scholarly endeavor.

inspiration of great art.

8

THE WORD MAD E I MAGE:

R ELIGIO

, AR T, A

A

ISH AMERICA,

D SPA

D ARCHITECTUR E IN SPAI

1 500- 1600

Jonat h an Brown I nstitute of Fine Art s,

ew York University

I would like to preface the publication of

sectors of the U.S. public. For instance, she

th ese essays on religious art in Spain an d

noted that th e link between th e divine and

Latin America during th e sixteenth century

the material is becoming stronger in the

by noting that, according to a recent poll,

United States as Christians, and Catholics

70 percent of the p eopl e living in the

in particular, re ject what they p erc eive to

United States b elieve in the existen ce of

be the overintellectualization of th eir reli-

an gels. This b elief in supernatural beings

gion. The growing conservatism among th e

was reported on the front page of th e

ew

population as a whole evidently lesse ns a

York Times on December 25, 1995 , in an

prevalent stigma attached to the use of

article th at di sc ussed th e recent boom in th e sale of religious statuary in th e United

imagery in religious practice. Thus, according to Colleen M cD annell, professor of

States. The writer began the arti cle with a

religious studi es in th e University of Utah,

flippant introduction:

"d evotions to saints have become acceptable" 1 in th e United States. A more trendy

It was th e week before Christmas, and at

analysis is offered by Kay Turner, a special-

th e Coreglia Studios in

ist in Mexican and Latin-American folk

orth Bergen,

ew Jersey, th e sa ints were marching out.

Catholicism. She comments that "the stat-

So were th e L.O .G.'s (Ladies of Grace ),

u es are a way to reclaim one's own spiritual

th e S.H.J.'s (Sacred H earts of Jesus), the

domesti c space through th e power of

1.0 .P.'s (Infants of Prague), th e S.H.M.'s

. f ."2 b e1ie

(Sacred H earts of Mary) and th e boxed J.M .J.'s (Jesus-Mary-Joseph )

ativity sets.

To historians of Hispanic art, these developments seem at once familiar and hopeful.

After all, a very high percentage of the con-

D espite h er irreveren t opening, the writer

tent of Hispanic art is religious, and specifi-

h ad some intriguing things to say abo ut this

cally Catholic, a fact that h as made for

powerful revival of interest in religion and

heavy going in the E nglish-speaking world,

religious imagery that is n ow occurring in

wh ere the discourse is often monopolized

9

b y an Enlightenment, Protestant ideology.

Antonio Domingu ez Ortiz has mad e the

As a consequence , we scholars of Hi spanic

point with his customary cogency.

art have frequently b een forc ed to the sidelines of th e cultural arena, custodians of a

Si quisieramos ha ce r un inventario algo

retro , antirational artistic tradition obviously

com pl eto de lo qu e la religion signifi caba

out of step with modern times. After ge n e ra-

para el hombre de! siglo XVII , tendrfamos

tions of patie ntly waiting in the anteroom

que abarcar todos los aspectos de su vida

of art history, could it b e that we will b e

porque n o habfa sector de ella que no

invited into th e sala principal?

estu viera impregnado del se ntimiento

I wish that the answer were a resounding

religioso. La distincion, hoy para nosotros

"yes," if for no other reason that so much

tan clara, de lo espiritu al y lo temporal,

wonderful art is appreciated in our country

lo civil y lo eclesiasti co, no existfa para

by so few. However, it would be cynical,

aquell os hombres.

and probably fruitl ess, to try to parlay the

Con todos sus defectos, la iglesia

current booml et in religious imagery

espafiola gozaba de una popularidad

into a full-fl edged expansion of our field .

indisc utibl e, no solo por la profunda fe

Furthermore, it would be bad history.

de las masas, sino porque ella ll enaba , mejor o peo r, atribu cion es que hoy ban

* * * It requires a considerable feat of th e imagi-

pasado a manos de! Estado. *3 In th ese circumstances, it is no surprise

nation to proj ect ourselves back into history,

that Hispa nic art of th e sixteenth century is

to sixteenth-century Spain and its territories

overwh elmingly comprised of religiou s

in the New World, where religion was not a

imagery. This statement, of course, could

mere adjunct to life but instead framed and

be applied to virtually every pe riod of

d efined existe nc e itself. Since the n , a gap

Hispanic art b efore the nineteenth century.

b etween the religious and the secular -or,

H owever, during the sixteenth century,

to put it in more familiar terms, between

Christian image ry passed through one of its

church and state - h as opened that, as far as

greatest c rises. This was th e ch allenge of

I can see, will not b e closed an y time soon.

the Protestant reform, which proclaimed

Speaking of th e seventeenth century

the primacy of the Word and rejected visu al

(although his words are equally applicable

representation as a way to know the will of

to the sixteenth ), th e Spanish historian

the Lord. Radical P rotestants regarded the

*"If we wish to make an inventory of what religion meant in the seventeenth century, we would have to say that it covered every aspect of life because there was no sector which was not impregnated with religious sentiment. The distinction, which for us today is so clear, between th e spiritual and the temporal, beh.veen the civil and the ecclesias ti c, did not exist for tho e people.

"With all its defects, the Spanish church enjoyed an irrefutabl e popularity, not only because of th e profound fa ith of the masses, but because, for good or ill, it met the needs which have now passed into the hands of the state." [Here Dominguez is referring to what we now call "social services."]

10

use of images in devotional practice as idol-

This relatively restrained d efense of

atry, which had to be extirpated through

imagery in fact opened the way for a

iconoclasm, th e destruction of religious

remarkable efflorescence of Catholic art

images. 4

and for writing about its formulas and uses.

However, the reformers were not

united in their support of iconoclasm,

This story has often been told, perhaps bet-

although there was agreement that the new

ter by Emile Male than by anyone else.6

faith would be observed in churches devoid

However, one point is worth emphasiz ing,

of imagery. If Karlstadt was a proponent

even at the risk of stating the obvious: an

of iconoclasm, Luther opposed it, fearing

extraordinary variety of Catholic imagery

that it would soon get out of hand, while

was produced during the Counter Refor-

Zwingli advocated a gradualist approach

mation and on into the mid-eighteenth

to the removal of religious imagery from

century. This feature of Catholic art has

the churches.

tended to be obscured by the biographical

In the encl, as Luther feared , it was the

and monographical approaches still favored

mob that decided the matter in favor of

by art historians, despite the epistemologi-

iconoclasm, which spread from Geneva

cal turmoil of the past decade, and by the

in 15 3 5 to the

powerful habit of aestheticizing our

etherlancls in the 15 60s.

Confronted with this chall enge to a centra l doctrine of its faith, the Catholics

response to religious art.

As Hans Belting has recently pointed

responded with the well-known affirmation

out, during the Re naissance, religious

of the efficacy of imagery that was articu-

images began to be seen more and more as

lated in the twenty-fifth session of the

objects of beauty.7 This development has

Council of Trent ( 1563 ). In its resolution,

reached its culmination in the public

th e Council charged the bishops to

museum of the twentieth century, where countless sacred icons have found a perma-

teach that images of Christ, the virgin

nent home. Within the sanitized precincts

mother of Goel, and th e other sa ints

of this secular institution, even one so redo-

should be set up and kept, particularly in

le nt of th e Old World as the Gardner, the

churches, and that clue honor and rever-

objects come to b e regarded solely as beau-

ence is owed to them , not because any-

tiful creations of important masters. Only

thing is to be expected of them , or

when these paintings and sculpture are

beca use confidence should be placed in

restored to their original settings and sys-

images as was clon e by the pagans of old;

tem of belief is th e magical power convert-

but beca use the honor showed to them is

ing th em into efficacious inte rmediaries in

referred to th e original which they repre-

transactions between the human and the

se nt. Thus, through the images which we

divin e reinstated and recognized anew.

kiss and before which we uncover our

The variety of ca uses served by religious

h eads and go clown on our knees , we give

imagery in the sixteen th century is truly

ado ration to Christ and veneration to the

impressive. Cults of the Virgin-of which

sa ints, whose likeness they bear. 5

there were hundreds-all had their individ11

ual iconography. The army of sa ints was

deprived of its light even as the Spanish

also deployed throughout the Catholic

armi es imposed the will of th e monarchs

world to fight the skirmishes of daily life and to win the largest battle of all, salva-

on those they sought to convert. From our vantage point, this may look like colossal

tion . Every household had d evotional

hubris; vnapping oneself in the mantl e of

images- the number and quality dep ended

th e Lord to achieve political and territorial

on the pocketbook-befo re which the

dominanc e is now see n as pres umptuous .

faithful prayed and m editated , using th e

Howeve r, in the name of religion , and

imagery as a m eans to gain access to the

with an unshakabl e conviction in his self-

divine and, upon occasion, to contemplate the ineffabl e.8

righteousn ess, Philip II fought furiou sly

Alongsid e the repertory of private images

aga inst th e Protestant rebellion in th e Netherlands, the territory so crucial to the

were those created to adorn public or com-

prosp erity and power of his monarchy. And

munal places of worship, su ch as cathe-

in th e nam e of Jes us Christ, th e Spanish

drals, parish church es, ch ap els, h ermitages,

crown sponsored th e conqu est, eva ngeliza-

monastic and conventual foundations, and

tion, and colonization of th e vast territories

colleges and seminaries. Larger in scale

in the western hemisphere, from which

than devotional images, and usu ally more

came th e wealth that undergirded Spanish

co mplex in signifi can ce, these decora tions ca n b e likened to symphonies of Catholic

pretensions in Europe. The confusion of political and religious aims ch aracterizing

doctrine and d evotion and must b e inter-

th ese mom entous campaigns was natural

preted by different strategies than those

and is often embodi ed in th e works of art

use d for intimate devotional works.

and architecture that were born of this

A furth er ingredi ent to b e add ed to th e potpourri of Catholic imagery is politics.

moment.

The following studi es are intend ed to

The division b etwee n th e spiritual and

refl ect th e co mpl exiti es of this rich chapter

temporal, as noted by Domingu ez Ortiz, is

of Hispanic history and art. We b egin with

a ph enomenon of the modern worlcl.9 In

Ri ch ard Kagan 's historiographical paper,

th e sixteenth ce ntury, howeve r, th e confes-

whi ch an alyzes how perceptions of Spain

sional and the political were n aturally

in th e United States were fram ed by a

ass umed to overlap, and n owh ere was this

Boston brahmin of th e nineteenth century,

more th e case than in Spain. The king of

whose valu es and pre judices h ave proved

Spain was styled as His Catholic Majesty;

to be remarkably durable. Kagan cites

and b eginning with C harles I of Spain,

William Hickling Prescott's History of the

b etter known as th e emperor C h arl es V,

Reign of Ferdinand and Isabel (18 37) as

the Spanish monarchs ass um ed the role

th e text that re juvenated th e so-call ed

of temporal defenders of the fa ith . The

Black Legend in terms that we re especially

Spanish emp ire of th e sixteenth century,

apt for a burgeo ning new n ati on. In

which encircled the globe, was a Catholi c

Prescott's views, th e United States was d es-

empire d esigned to bring the fa ith to th ose

tined to thrive because it was fr ee of the

12

two crucial factors that had brought Spain

ans have played an important part in this

low: the Catholic religion and royal abso-

pro-Philippine movement, perhaps because

lutism. For all its pre judices, "Prescott's paradigm" would govern the perception of

his greatest artistic endeavor, th e arch itectural complex of the Escorial, epitomi zes

Spain in this country for over a century and

the monarch's vision of members of his

a half and even now is not a spent force.

dynasty as inspired protagonists in the uni-

In the papers of Lynette Bosch, Richard

versal history of Catholicism. Wilkinson

Mann, and Catherine Wilkinson Zerner,

Zerner's fascinating study, which focuses

the focu s is on religious art in metropoli-

on th e interplay between the interment of

tan , or Ib erian, Spain. Moving in se qu enc e

the corpses of the royal family and the

from individual to familia l to institutional

architectural body of the Basilica of the

devotion and imagery, we commence with

Escorial, illuminates what might be call ed

Bosc h 's study of the most common and

a maj estic appropriation of Catholicism for

neglected form of religiou s representation ,

dynastic purposes .

th e p ersonal d evotional image. Spanish art

In peninsular Spain, then , Catholicism

of th e early mod ern p eriod is exc eptionally

provided a magnific ently fl exibl e fram e-

rich in devotional imagery, and Bosch 's

work for individual and institutional aspira-

paper is a pioneering venture in mapping

tions. But we must not fo rget that the

this terrain.

Ri chard Mann's analysis of El Greco's

European territori es were only one part of th e vast domains of th e Spanish crown.

decoration of the Chapel of Saint Joseph

The colonies in the

provides a close and innovative reading of a

least as important. That sa id, there is no

Tol edan fun erary chapel. It uncovers th e

doubt that artistic ideas imported from

complex dyn amics b etwe en ecclesiasti cal

Spain were profoundly transform ed once

prerequisites and individual prerogatives;

they reach ed th e western h emisphere .

along the way, Mann demonstrates how El

Catholic art was put to th e sternest test in

Greco , in his inspiring images, was able

the confrontation with indigenous religious

to accommodate Counter-Reformation

and social system s and, h ere aga in, its fl exi-

doctrin e to th e religious and social aspira-

bility was cru cial in the proc ess of evange-

tion s of a rather testy Tol edan family.

lization. Just now, th e dynamic b etwe en

In Catherine Wilkinson Zerner's pap er,

ew World were at

Spanish and indigenous cultures is b eing

we m eet one of William Prescott's arch vil-

reassessed , and n ew compl exities are b eing

lains, Philip II . As these lines are being

discern ed in the relationships b etwee n the

v,1ritten , th e four hundredth anniversary of

conqu erors and th e co nqu ered , especially

th e death ( 1598) of this imposing monarch

during th e sixteenth century. Th ese n ew

is coming into view. In rece nt tim es, an effort h as b ee n mad e to restore th e luster

approaches are exemplifi ed in th e studies of religious art in the viceroyalties of ew

to one of th e m ost tarnish ed figures in

Spain (M exico ) and Peru by C lara

E uropean history, although th e su ccess of

Bargellini and Sabine MacCormack, resp ectively.

th e apologists is still in doubt. Art histori-

In h er essay, Bargellini an alyzes how

The editor of a volume of symposium

church architecture was adapted to accom-

p ap ers cu stomarily attempts to provide, if

modate the c ustoms of the Indian s. A kind of tug-of-wa r evolved , whi ch pitted th e

not impose, unity and continuity on th e work of authors who unavoid ably take dif-

requirem ents of th e fri ars aga inst the

ferent approac h es to th e th em e at h and.

ingrained habits of Indian civic life. Th e

The prece ding lines were ce rtainly written

result was a n ew kind of fu sion architec-

in that spirit. H owever, th e rea der is as

ture, unknown in Europ e and well suited

likely to b e impressed by th e di versity as by

to th e conditions in

th e unity of th ese p ap ers. To apologies will

ew Spain.

By m eans of a close, insightful rea ding

b e offered for this apparent inconsisten cy,

of th e syn cretic d eco rati on of a small

whi ch in fac t infor m s the conto urs of our

church n ea r Cuzco, Sabine M ac C o rmack

subj ect. Th e Spanish monarch y of th e six-

shows a co mparable pro cess occ urring in

teenth ce ntury extended from Antwerp to

Peru. Th e territo rial conqu est of th e Inca

Potosf, an d so it is n ot surprising that th e

em pire was acco mplish ed at a stroke.

art p rodu ce d within its bo und ari es is con-

H oweve r, th e th eological co nquest was a

sid erably m o re vari ed th an th e art of

slowe r, m ore ardu ous pro cess. In h er ex-

Fl o ren ce, Rom e, or Ve ni ce during this

aminati on of the church of Andahuaylillas,

sam e p eri od . Ind eed, th e paradigm s gov-

M acCormack reveals wh at sh e calls the "polyse m o us qu ality" of Andea n religious

erning th e study of Italian Ren aissa n ce art, whi ch by n ow h ave ac h ieved ca n onical sta-

painting, in whi ch the voice of th e n ati ve

tus am on g art histo rians in this country

religion is ten acio usly blend ed into

and elsewh ere, are of o nly limited use

Catholi c litan y.

wh en ap plied to th e sprawling territori es of th e Spanish m on archy. We h op e that th ese studies d em on strate that th e m ethods of app roac h to Hispani c art of th e earl y modern p eri od must b e as diverse as th e inhabitants of th e Spanish dom ains.

1. Colleen McDannell, c ited in th e New York Times, D ecembe r 25, 1995, p. 1.

2. Ka y Turne r, c ited in th e Tew York Times, D ecember 25, 1995, p. 1.

3. Antonio Dominguez Ortiz, La Sevilla del siglo XVII, Historia de Sevilla, eel . Francisco M orales Padro n, 3rd . ed. (Seville, 1984), 219-20.

4. For a study on the deba te over image ry in sixteenthcentury Spain, see Palma Martin ez-Burgos Garcia,

fdolos e imagenes: La controversia del arte religioso en el siglo A.'VI espaii.ol (Vallaclolicl, 1990).

5. For the compl e te text, see Norman P. Tanner, eel.,

Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 2 vols.

(Washington , D .C., 1990), 2: 774-76.

6. I refer to E mile Male's classic book of 1932, L'art religieux afJres le Concile de Trente: Etucle sur l'iconographie de la fin du XVI' siecle, du A.'VIIe siecle, du XVIIIe siecle: Italie, France, Espagne, Flandres (Paris, 1932), th e first compreh e nsive study of th e impact of th e Counter Reformati on o n th e visual arts.

7. H a ns Belting, Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art (Chicago and London , 1994), 458-90.

8. For a n introductio n to th e study of devoti onal images, see H e nk va n Os e t al. , The Art of Devotion

in the Late Middle Ages in Europe, 1300- 1500 (Princeton , 1994) . See also th e importa nt book of D avid Freed berg, The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response (Chi cago and London, 1994), 16 1-9 1.

9. D o minguez Ortiz, 220.

PRESCOTT'S PARADIGM: IMAG E OF SIXTE E

A N E W LOOK AT A BOSTONIAN'S

TH-CENTURY SPAI

Richard L. Kagan Johns Hopkins Univ e r s it y

I believe the Spanish subj ect will be m ore

original synthesis e n vision ed by Prescott in

n ew than the Italian , m ore interesting to by op ening anoth er & more practical

1826 and subsequ ently realized in his History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabel, published on Christmas Day 1837,

department of study, & not more laborious,

and a work still well worth reading today.

the majority of readers, more useful to m e

in relation to the authorities to be consulted,

As a historian , Prescott was not particu-

and not more difficult to be disc ussed . ...

larly innovative, either in te rms of m ethod,

For these reasons, I subscribe to the history

philosophy, or techniqu e. Influenced pri-

of Ferdinand and

Isabel. 1

marily by Edward Gibbon and by Abbe Mably (whose rul es of history h e admired ),

With th ese words, entered into a m e mo-

Prescott sought to write history that was

ra ndum on Janua ry 19, 1826, Willia m

"romantic" yet also "useful ," studded with

Hickling Prescott ina ugurated th e writing

what h e call ed "gen eral reflections" of a

of Spanish hi story in th e U nited States.

philosophical b ent. 2 Whether in his history

Equally importantly, Prescott's d ecision

of Ferdinand and Isabel or his later books

to investigate th e ac hievem e nts of th e

on the conqu ests of M exico ( 184 3) and

Catholic Nlonarch s represe nted a mil estone

Peru ( 1847), Prescott attempted to incorpo-

within historical schola rship in our country.

rate insights glean ed fr om documents, con-

U.S . read ers in th e early nineteenth century

temporary chronicles, and oth er sources

knew E uropea n history, but no sch olar from

into wh at h e d escribed as "a continuous

this co untry h ad ye t dared, as P resco tt pro-

closely conn ected n arrative" centering on

p osed , to utilize original d oc ume nts in

"political intrigu e."3 Yet Prescott also

order to write som ething n ew about th e his-

wanted his books to be "very interes ting"

tory of a n y n ation othe r than the U nited

and accessibl e to a wide audienc e . In te rms

States. Not until the end of the nineteenth

of his aims and m ethod , th erefor e, Prescott

century did other U.S . historians,

resembled his conte mpora ries: Banc roft,

M edievalists m ostly, duplicate the kind of

Pa rkma n , a nd oth er historians of the

romantic school. N evertheless, Prescott

merc e. Most eighteenth-century U.S.

em erged , at least in this country, as th e

authors rep eated the e observations, adding

Lycurgus of Spanish history and as the scholar vvho shaped both the character and

seve ral of their own . Jedidiah Morse's American Universal GeografJhy (Boston,

direction of histori cal research in Spanish

1793 , 1st ed. ), a popular school text, taught

studies for well ove r a century. This essay

several gen erations of schoolboys that

examines the specific nature of Prescott's contribution and , more importantly, the

Spaniards \Vere not only "bigotted Catholics" subj ect to "despotic monarch y"

extent to which his id eas about the juxtapo-

but lazy, indolent p eopl e prone to "th e

sition of Spanish decaden ce and U .S.

practice of every vice."6 Other textbooks

progress-summarily refe rred to h ere as "Pres cott's paradigm " - still exert influenc e

depicted Spaniards as "a poor, lazy, idl e, dirty, ignorant rac e of almost se mi-

over Spanish historical scholarship , partic-

savages. " 7

ularly of the early mod ern era, in th e United States .

Beginning in th e 1820s, Washington Irving, H enry Wadsworth Longfellow, and other writers of the romantic school h elped temper this n egative image even thou gh they remain ed critical of Spain and its insti-

To b egin with , it is interes ting that an indi-

tutions. Fastening onto the m ore traditional

vidu al of Presc ott's background - Boston , Unitarian , money, Harva rd -even contem-

aspects of Spain's rural ec onom y, for th ese writers Spain v,1as "pi cturesqu e" because it

plated a subj ect dealing with Spanish his-

was both exotic and backward- still

tory.+ No U.S. scholar h ad eve r don e so befor e, not even Thomas Jefferson , wh o

M edieval, still subj ect to Moorish and other "oriental" influ en ces. On a visit in 1828,

otherwise coll ec ted Spanish books and

Lon gfell ow unabash edl y referred to Spain's

encouraged study of "th e langu age, m an-

"tim eless character,''8 wh ereas Irving, who

n ers, and situation" of b oth Spain and

first went to Spain in 1826, offered an ori-

Portugal.5 In ge n eral, th e impress ion of

entalist interpretation of th e Spanish ch ar-

Spain in th e United States during the ea rly

acter wh en , referring to M adrid's inhabi-

nineteenth century was colored by th e so-

tants, h e observed that "th ese people

call ed Black Legend , first p opularized by

preserve th e Arab look and m anner." The

Anglo-Dutch Protestants in th e sixteenth

ew Yorker's first glimpse of Andalucia

ce ntury. One va ri ant of this legend

elicited an equ ally fa n ciful co mment:

describ ed Spaniards as cruel co n quistadors

"country like a histori c m ap - full of history

with an insatiabl e lust for gold . Anoth er

and rom an ce, wh ere the M oors and C hristians h ave fou ght."9

portrayed Spanish society as on e sunk in th e depths of decline: a n atio n that wasted

Yo ung Presco tl's view of Spa in was only a

th e sil ver it h ad m in ed in th e Indi es on

bit less ro m anticized . H e regard ed it also as

m on asteri es and religious wa rs without

a co untry wh ose p eople suffe red fro m the evil effects of "arbitrary government and

both ering to invest it produ ctively in com-

Papal superstition." 10 Under the circum-

tive required : battles against Moors; the

stances, therefore, it seems somewhat odd

exploits of courageous captains; the discov-

that Prescott, who was determined to follow

ery of continents and oceans. Prescott was

a literary career, opted to write about

clearly a romantic. Yet as the above list sug-

Spain. He entertained other alternatives:

gests, Prescott knew his Livy, Tacitus, and

a history of ancient Rome; a biographical

Polybius as well , and in keeping with the

sketch of eminent geniuses; a study of

work of Gibbon, Raynal, Robertson, and

Italian Renaissance literature. Yet by

other "philosophical" historians, the

December 1825, only a year or so after h e

Bostonian sought to determine the forces

started reading Spanish history and litera-

that d estined certain societies for greatness,

ture, the Spain of Ferdinand and Isab el

others to d ecad enc e and decay. With

attracted him more and more. The subject

respect to his Spanish project, he noted

had its attractions, among them, a connec-

these particular concerns in a short memo

tion with the origins of th e New World, a

of 1828:

linkage already apparent to Irving and one that led to that author's highly romanti-

How many of the seeds of the subse qu ent

cized but enormously successful biography

decay of this great empire are to be fairly

of Christopher Columbus, first published

imparted to th e constitutions of Ferdinand

in 1828 . Yet Prescott, more of a historian

and Isa bel? Could not a skilful contrast

than Irving, unde rstood that Spain afforded

show that they are mainly imputable to

numerous opportunities for philosophical

the defective policy of the succeeding

reflection. He summarized the many

monarchs [i. e., the H absburgs p12

advantages-and th e poss ibilities- of such an inquiry in a m emo of ea rly January 1826. Th ese included

What is not immediately apparent in th ese notes, but what was evidently paramount in Prescott's mind , was the compari-

a retrospec tive picture of th e cons tituti ons

son b eh veen th e relative fortunes of th e

of Castile & Aragon ; of the Moorish

United States and Spain. H e toyed with th e

dynasty- th e ca uses of its decay & dissolu-

prosp ect of \Vriting a history of his own

tion? Th en I h ave the Inquisition, with its

country and recurrently refl ected upon the

bloody persecutions, - the conqu est of

factors that were helping to make it great.

Granada a brilliant passage,- th e exploits

So when Prescott d ecided in January 1826

of the "Great Captain" in Italy, a proper

to write about the Spain of Ferdinand and

character for romance as ,.vell as history, -

Isab el, h e was also writing about the you ng

th e discovery of a new world, my own

United States. In both countri es, Prescott

co untry- th e n ew policy of th e m onarch

detected the enlighten ed lead ership , sound

towards the overgrovm aristocracy &c &c. 11

governme nt, na tional will, and dynamism n ecessary for monumental achievement.

H ere , in short, were all of th e elements that

Prescott in fac t was undoubtedly thinking

an "entertaining" and "inte resting" narra-

of the United States when, in a review of

Irving's Conquest of Granada , h e used

European princ e sinc e th e clay of th e

the followin g language to desc rib e late

Caesars." Prescott, moreove r, fau lted Philip

fifte e nth-century Spain : "It '"'as the season of hope and yo uthful ente rprise, when th e

for having "nurtured sch e m es of mad ambi-

nation seem ed to be renewing its ancient

en e rgy Ferdinand and Isab el brought to

energies, and to prepare like a giant to run

Spain, forcing the nation into "a state of

its

tion" that unde rmin ed the dynamism and

course." 13

paralytic torpor" that contributed, directly

Yet for all his pro-Spanish sympathi es,

and inevitably, to its ec onomic and political

Prescott could not escape the Protestant

decline . Eve n more repreh ensible was

pre judices of his age. H e understood that

Philip's narrow brand of Catholicism, a reli-

Spain had two d eep-seated weaknesses from

gion that "admitted no compromise" and

wh ich the United States was exempt. One

led th e monarch to embrac e persec ution,

was Catholicism , cruelly manifested in the

and its handmaid en , th e Inquisition , as his

Inquisition that his avowed h eroes, the

principal weapon. 16 Firm in his beli ef that

Catholic Monarchs, had h elped to create. I-+

progress required a liberty that embraced

His m e mo book reads:

d emocratic institutions, fre edom of worship and of expression, and laissez-faire eco nom-

Th e reign of Ferdinand and Isa bel will

ics, Prescott blam ed Philip for having

thus form an epoch lying between the

d eni ed Spain the opportunity to join the

anarc hy of the proceeding period and th e

modern world .

despotism & extravagant sch em es of the

For Prescott, therefore , an unhealthy

succeeding, during whi ch epoch the

combination of political d espotism and reli-

nati on attained its high est degree of real

gious bigotry set Spain and the United

prosperity; although th e see ds of its most

States on two fund am entally diffe rent

degrading vice, religious bigo try, were

paths. The latter, as a republic, enjoyed th e

th en implanted . (were they not before?). 15

en e rgy, enthusias m , and the "bold commercial spirit" that liberty e ngendered-the

Spain's other fata l fl aw was royal abso-

qualiti es n ations required for lasting su c-

lutism , the inh erent defects of which were

cess. In Prescott's view, M edieval Spai n h ad

manifested less by th e Catholic Monarchs

exhibited most of these qualiti es in the

than by th eir H absburg successors, most

guise of "free institutions," "libe ral a nd

notably, Philip II (15 56-1598), whose biog-

equitable fo rms of government," "ind epe n-

raphy Presco tt publish ed in 1855. For

de nce of ch aracter," "lofty enthusiasm," and

Presco tt, a sta unch proponent of lib erty-

"patriotism." 17 H owever, in the course of

the " tranquility that na turally flows from a

the sixteenth century, th e H absburg mon ar-

free and well-condu cted governm ent" and

ch y, aid ed by the Inquisition, conspired to

the "spirit of ind ependence" embodied in

crush Spain's ancient "lib erties," c reating a

the United States - Philip II was evil incar-

huge gulf b etween th e United States and

na te: "[ H e] ruled .. . with an a uthority

the nation that h ad h elped to discover it.

more absolute than that possessed by any

In th e United States, lib e rty ens ured both

individual enterprise and national prosper-

Enlightenment writers, but Prescott bun-

ity. In Spain, its absence created economic

dled these together into a single package

backwardness, intellectual stagnation,

that offered a means of approaching

political weakness, and moral decay, each

Spanish history through the lens of that of

compounded by the sloth and corruption

the United States. Just as Prescott cherished

that the riches of empire brought in its

the notion of "American exceptionalism" -

wake. 18 In the Middle Ages, Spaniards

the idea that his own country possessed a

were energetic and hard vvorking, their

unique history that destined it for great-

future still bright. But by the end of the

ness- Spain was equally exceptional but

sixteenth century, all this had changed,

seen from the inverted p erspective of a

and Prescott offered a particularly gloomy

nation separated from the European (i.e.,

assessment of the country's future near the

Protestant) mainstream and consequently

end of Philip II:

bereft of the progress and prosperity that flowed in its \Vake. Earlier

ew England

Folded under the dark wing of the

writers, Cotton Mather and Samuel Sewall

Inquisition, Spain was shut out from th e

among them, had also espoused a negative

light which in the sixtee nth century broke

view of Spain, but Prescott was the first

over the rest of Europe, stimulating

to adopt a truly comparative perspective,

nations to greater enterprise in eve ry

setting the traj ectory of the two nations

department of knowl edge. The genius of

side by side. Medi eval Spain provided

the people was rebuked , and their spirit

Prescott-and presumably other scholars

quenched , under the malign influence of

who shared his conservative political

an eye that never slumb ered, of an unseen

views-an example of a society in which

arm ever raised to strike. How could th ere

individual libe rti es had been productively

be freedom of thought, where there was

channeled into nation building, a heroic

no freedom of utterance? Or freedom of

enterprise that offered ready comparison

utterance, where it wa dangerous to say

with the colonial era of the United States,

too littl e as to say too much . Freedom can-

and, for Prescott at least, one that served

not go along with fear. Every way th e

as a refu ge from the dangerous populist

Spanish mind was in fetters.19

tende ncies Jacksonian democracy had unl eash ed .20 But Spain's principal attraction was that its history, especially in the Habsburg era

What I call "Prescott's paradigm" is an

(which Prescott regarded as that nation's

understanding of Spain as the antithesis of

nadir), represented everything that his

the United States . Most of the eleme nts

b eloved country was not. The latter-

contained in this paradigm- anti-

republican, enterprising, rational - was the

Catholicism, criticism of absolutism,

future; the former - monarchical, indol ent,

support for commerce, and individual

fanatic- represented the past. As it d evel-

liberty -were found in the work of many

oped, h owever, Prescott's paradigm was less

20

of a clearly defining model of analysis than

1898, a moment when the famous

a series of assumptions and presuppositions

Philadelphia businessman turned

about the inherent backwardness of Spanish culture contrasted with the progressiveness

Medievalist and historian of the Inquisition, Henry Charles Lea, published an essay in

and superiority of that of the United States.

the Atlantic Monthly. In it, Lea attributed

Yet this particular formulation , especially

Spain's defeat in this conflict as the

when combined with a pervasive belief in

inevitable result of a national character that

national character engendered by the rise of

was the antithesis of the United States, with

nineteenth-century nationalism, managed

Spain distinguished by a "blind and impen-

to exert a powerful influence on the way in

etrable pride," a "spirit of conservatism

which succeeding generations of scholars in

which rejected all innovation in a vvorld

the United States thought and wrote about

of incessant change," and a profound

Spain. 21 Even today, this formulation influ-

"clericalism" that had not only ignited a

ences the ways that many in the United

"ferocious spirit of intolerance" but also

States, scholars and nonscholars alike, think

"benumbed the intellectual development

and \Vrite about Spain.

of the people." 23 Lea, moreover, knew

There is no space here to trace, genera-

exactly where such misfortunes would lead.

tion by generation, Prescott's influence

"While the rest of the civilized world was

upon U.S. writing about Spain . Suffice it to say that Prescott's ideas about Spain exer-

bounding forward in a career of progress, while scienc e and the useful arts were daily

cised a profound influence on Spain's first

adding to the conquests of man over the

generation of U.S. I-Iispanists ; notable

forces of nature, and rival nations \Vere grow-

among th em were Prescott's close friend

ing in wealth and power, the Inquisition

George Ticknor, Harvard's first professor of

condemned Spain to stagnation."H

mod ern languages, together with a host of

At the dawn of the twentieth century,

U.S. citizens who visited Spain, including

therefore, political events seemingly con-

James Russell Lowell, another Harvard lan-

firmed Prescott's contention that Spain

guage professor. Lowell, in a journey to

and the United States inhabited different

Spain in 1878, purposely shut his eyes to

worlds. Most scholars accepted this

anything in Spanish society-railroads,

premise; so did the popular press. Even

industry, commerce-that smacked of

Archer M. Huntington (1870-1955),

modernity, a typ e of myopia that allowed

founder of New York's Hispanic Society of

him to write: "Th ey are still orientals to a

America (opened in 1908) and a connois-

degree one has to live among them to

seur otherwise interested in promoting

believe .. .. They don't care about th e same

Spanish art and culture, accepted "Spain"

things that we are fools to believe in [i. e., ledgers and account books] ." 22 The

and "modernity" as antithetical concepts.

Prescottian contrast between Spanish deca-

ticized. "In Spain," h e wrote, "fanaticism is

dence and U.S. modernity also came to the

natural, chivalry a necessity."25 Yet

fore during the Spanish-American War of

Huntington resembled Prescott to the

Like Irving, Huntington 's Spain was roman-

21

extent that he took seriously the general

In comparison, Chandler Post, H arvard's

traj ectory of Spanish history, especially

hard-h ead ed historian of Spanish art, attrib-

the reasons for what he perceived as the

uted Spain's artistic achievements in the

nation's failure to modernize along western

seventeenth century to that "rare artist"

lines. Presc ott's influence, for example, may

(probably Velazquez) with a "rugged, weird,

be detected in the list of the ingredients that

and titanic spirit," one able to free himself

Huntington concocted to explain Spanish

from the grave Spanish temperament and the strictures of the Catholic Church. 28

decadenc e: "Pride, a weak monarch , a dissolute court, religious intolerance, all these are admirable starting points from which to prove a nation's dec line ." To this m aster recipe Huntington added one additional,

To what extent do the ideas Prescott u sed

alb eit vital, ingredient: "Spain lacks the

to desc ribe Spain still preva il? At present,

trading spirit ... th e great primitive d evel-

signs of a shift in the paradigm he formu-

oping agency," the absence of \vhich con-

lated are so m ewhat mixed . One current

d emned Spain to centuries of isolation and decay.26

approach may b e characterized as a sh ift

To escape this era, Huntington, like

away from Spanish exceptionali sm and its concomitant emphasis upon d eclin e as an

Presc ott b efor e him, took refuge in Spain's

intrinsi cally "Spanish " phe nom enon . Such

Middle Ages, especially in the figure of

an approach b ega n in th e 1930s with Ea rl

El Ciel, a h e roic figure whose Poema he

J. Hamilton, an economic historian who

endeavored to translate. It follows that the

pointed out that ninete enth-century "lib-

art of M edieval Spain fi gured as th e center-

e ral" historians purposely exagge rated

pi ece of the museum Huntington outfitted

Spanish d eca d e n ce in order "to place abso-

in New York. For similar reasons, th e first

lutism , the Inquisition, the p ersec ution of

U.S . historians of Spanish art-Charles

minoriti es, and the Moorish expu lsions in

Caffin, Georgiana Goddard King,

th e worst light." As h e saw it, the German

A. Kingsley Porter, Chandler Post, and John

and French (h e might h ave added British

Ke nneth Conant - also displayed a distinct

and U.S. scholars as well ) overestimated

prefe rence for the Middl e Ages . An excep-

the exte nt of Spain's decline in order to

tion was Charles B. Curtis, who in 1883

glorify their own co untry's ac hieve ments. 29

had publish ed a catalogu e of paintings by

H a milton was right, a nd in this respect h e

Velazquez and Murillo, but this schola r

ranks as one of the first schola rs to examin e

viewed Spain's seventeenth century in

Spain's history co mpara ti vely and to exam-

wholly romantic term s, cla iming that upon

in e th e presuppositions unde rlying its

first visiting Madrid, "I found m yself carried

decline.

in a clay to the middle of the seventeenth

Roger B. M e rriman , anoth er Harvard

century. I discovered a country that h ad pre-

sch olar interested in Spanish history,

served almost unch anged their h ab its, cus-

adopted a similar approach. His Six

toms, and tradition s of a long-buried age."27

Contemporaneous Revolutions, publish ed in

22

1937, offered a comparative analysi of the

more modern periods, including that of the

political history of seventeenth-century

era generally associated with Spanish

Spain, largely in an effort to determine the extent to which the revolts that rocked

decline. This change in focus is accompanied by a willingness to reexamine some of

Europe's monarchies in the 1640s belonged

the fundamental premises associated with

to an international movement, possibly

Spanish seventeenth-century art. Early in

even a conspiracy. At the time, Merriman

the century, Chandler Post argued for

was interested in drawing parallels between

Spanish artistic exceptionalism. No coun-

these revolts and the spread of European

try, he believed, was "less responsive to for-

fascism, but over the decades his study had

eign influences than Spain ."3 2 Yet recent

the effect of reattaching Spanish history to

work on a wide range of topics- individual

European history.

artists, architecture, palace decoration, and

This particular movement gained

artistic genres such as still life-suggests

momentum in the 1960s, owing primarily

that Spain was anything but isolated from

to the work of the influential English

th e main currents of European art. 33

scholar John H. Elliott, \vho, having rej ect-

Jonathan Brown, moreover, has written

ing the notion that an immutable national

extensively about the collecting by Philip

character rendered the Spanish incapable

IV, emphasizing the extent to which this

of innovation and change, interpreted the

monarch's preference for painting not only

erosion of Habsburg power in the 1640s as part of the "general crisis of the seventeenth

created th e largest - and most envi edpicture coll ection in seventeenth-century

century." 30 Elliott's comparative approach

Europe but also se rved to make painting, as

to Spanish history won wide acceptance in France, England, and -somewhat more

opposed to sculpture and tapestries, the most respected of all the arts. 34 From this

slowly- in th e United States, owing to the

perspective, paintings that Prescott might

powerful influence of America Castro, an

have used as evidence for the decad ence of

emigre literary scholar who taught genera-

Spain's monarchs are being refigured as

tions of Hispanists that Spanish decline was

markers of the nation's cultural vitality and

primarily of a fun ction of national charac-

intellectual interchange, two qualities it

ter. 3l Even so, the comparative approach

supposedly lacked.

gradually took hold, itself a sign of move-

Another sign of a shift in the paradigm is

m ent in the Prescottian paradigm and one

a willingness to chall enge th e old teleology

that signal ed a fund am ental ch ange in the

of Spanish economic backwardness and

way scholars in this country thought and

decline, gen erally by comparing its record

wrote about Spain.

One thing is certain: old orientations

to that of European nations other than

and presuppositions are definitely und er

by disaggregating the Spanish economy into

attack. In Spanish art history, the

va rious parts and by paying attention to

M edievalism of th e ea rly part of th e century

Catalonia, the Basqu e Country, and other

has given way to emphasis on the art of

regions whose economic performan ce was

Great Britain. This was also accomplish ed

not nearly so gloomy as that of Castile-the

and juridical checks. 39

pastoral region previou ly cited by scholars

Today's historians of Spain can therefore

to support their contention that absolutism,

be likened to iconoclasts, bent on breaking

empire, and the Church had rendered the

the old images that had formed the Spain

Spaniards commercially unfit. These find-

envisioned by their forbears, and in some

ings do not make Spain the pioneer of th e

cases, their own teach ers as weJl.-1-0 Even the

Industrial Revolution, but they do suggest

bullfight, once emblematic of Spanish cru-

that the Spanish economy \Vas far more

elty and, for the romantics, of the Spanish

modern-and changing-than earlier histo-

picturesque, is currently being transformed

rians of the Spanish economy would ever

into a symbol of Spanish commercial enter-

have allowed. 35

prise as one scholar docum ents th e way in

The old teleology is also suffering at th e

which nineteenth-century promoters of

hands of scholars less interested in the ups

the corrida transformed what had been a

and clowns of the Spanish e mpire than in

popular festival into a commercialized,

exploring the internal character of Spanish

professionalized, m ass-market spectator phenomenon.-1-I

society and

culture. 36

The monolithic

"Spain" that Prescott presented is currently

But pe rhaps the most significant shift in

being dismantled as scholars examine it

Presco tt's paradigm - one clirectl y pertine nt

microhistorically, divid e it into regions,

to the th em e of this symposium-involves

examine peripheri es rath er than cente rs,

th e role of religion in Spanish history. Of

and p eer into the minutiae of everyday

particular interest here is the work of schol-

life . 37 Furth e rmore , Prescott's stereotype of

ars who have exa mined th e trial records of

the Spaniard as th e cruel conquistador and

the Inquisition not, as Lea would have

the indole nt pri est is also giving to way to a

clon e, to e mphasize th e institution's cruelty

more varied picture of individuals of vastly

but rath er as a vast histori ca l database, use-

different stripe -of a Catalan artisan

ful for recon structing a society far more

coping with the rigors of plague; a yo ung

co mplex and far more h ete rodox tha n eve r

Castilian girl drea ming of a b etter life;

previously imaginecl .-1- 2 The image of th e

unive rsity-educated clergym en struggling to

Inquisition is also experi encing a profound

educate their parishioners in the rudime nts

transformation. What Prescott and Lea con-

of the faith ; Basque shipbuilders diligently

ceived as a c ruel, omniscient monster is

attempting to make a profit in difficult

rapidly being downsized and domesticated,

times; and co urtie rs who, together with

reconfigured into a n institution so poor and

other European pl ace-seekers, m ad e th e

so understaffed that it could h ardly control

promotion of their family and their fri ends a

the sale of prohibited books, let alone effec-

primary con cern. 38 Even more pronounced

tively police Spanish intell ectual activity

is the growing tenden cy to temp er th e old

and th ought.-1- 3 In addition , the "regime of

image of omnipotent H absburg absolutism

terror" associated with the late fifteenth

with tha t of a monarchy vvhose power was

century, when th e Holy Office p ersec uted

circumscrib ed by numero us constitutional

thousands of conversos acc used of sec retly

practi cing Je\vish rites, is now seen as but a

Spain re mains som ethin g of an aberration,

bri ef phase in the Inquisiti on 's long his-

a nati on inherently differe nt from the rest of

tory.路+-+ By the mid-sixteenth century, the

Europe, albeit a Europe that is gen erally

Holy Office tran sformed itself into a bul-

(and errone ously) equated with either

wark against Protestantism -although , in

England or Franc e.-+7 This "excessively

truth , often n ot strong enough to stage an

'internalist' approac h " applies to a whole

impressive auto-de-fe. It subsequ ently

range of issu es, ranging from the nature of

evolved into a watchdog over public moral-

Spanish absolutism to regional rivalri es to

ity, sp ecializing in the prosec ution of

its treatme nt of women and religious

bigamists, blasphemers, fornicators, and

minoriti es, all of whi ch are still conceived

sodomites in an effort, only marginally suc-

as if rooted to wh at Prescott call ed Spain's

cessful , to m ake Spanish sec ula r culture

national "spirit," what Lea d esc rib ed as its

conform with the stri ct clerical standards

national "trait," or what is now called

dictated by the Council of Trent. The latest

espaiiolismo (" S panishn ess") .-+8 0th e rwise,

studies also suggest that the Inquisition was

it is difficult to und erstand why a n ew and

something other than the crovvn 's obedient

fascinating study of Spanish fun ereal cu s-

servant. It is viewed instead as an institution

toms would attribute, albeit obliquely,

whose officials were regula rl y at odds with

Spain's economic problem s in the seven-

royal judges, as vvell as on e that local elites

teenth century to the excessive investme nt

m anipulated for their own purposes, using

in m asses arising from the nation's alleged

it, as they did in

-and supposedly ongoing-collective

1urcia during the 15 70s,

to h elp resolve vende ttas among the city's warring fac tions .-+5 Yet for all of th ese signs of a shift in

obsession with d ea th.-+9 The p ersonal stakes of the scholars involved in Spain's prese ntation in excep-

the pa radigm, old pe rceptions die h ard .

tional terms are none too clear. Yet for

Inh erite d notions of Spanish exceptional-

m a n y U.S. historians, and possibly many

ism, for exa mpl e, h elp to explain wh y so

others in this country as well, Spain

many historians (a nd art hi storians) in this

re m ains a n ation whose lead ers within liv-

co untry still v,1rite and teach E uropean his-

ing memory d eclared itself hostil e to the

tory as if th e continent, as Dumas sug-

political and religious pluralism champi-

gested , actually stopped at th e Pyre n ees.

on ed by the United States . Spain in this

H abits of a similar sort may also b e responsi-

sense still rem a ins something of an Other, a

ble for the tend ency of scholars in the

n a tion synonymous with the ominous fi gure

United States \vh o ac tuall y write Spanish

of the inquisitor Torquemada (as in Mel

history to e mploy what John E lliott h as

Brooks's 198 1 film , The History of the

desc rib ed as an "excessively 'internalist'

World, Part I ) and connected , inextri cably

approach " to their subj ect, rarely bothering

perhaps, to Columbus, Cortes, and othe r

to compare what was h app ening in Spain

conquistadors n ow credited with the exte r-

(and its emp ire) with the experiences of

mination of the civilization and of th e

other states.-+6 Too frequently, it seems,

ecology of the N ew World. 50 The quincen-

tenary celebrations of 1992, for all of their

economic and otherwise, to those of nations

expensive, commemorative pomp, did little

other than Great Britain, France, Germany,

more than to spark a revival of Black Legend themes, making it even easier for

or the United States. Fortunately, such rigid

the U.S. public , even those with little of the

and the changeover is accompanied by the

anticlericalism evinced by Prescott and

understanding that imperial power is rarely

Lea , to distance themselves from both Spain and its history. In part, this distancing

long-lasting. Of particular moment, therefore , is the view that Spain's empire in the

can be attributed to a lack of mass emigra-

Americas-with a life span of more than

tion from Spain to the United States, in part

three centuries-be examined in terms of

to the inability of U.S. citizens to associate

the factors that contributed to its longetivity

Spain with anything except the pathetic fig-

instead of to its decay. In doing so, our long-

ure of Don Quixote tilting at windmills or

held beliefs and notions about Spanish

the more picturesque elements of its cul-

history become more complex, with new

ture- bullfighting, castles, flamenco , gyp-

meanings attached to seve nteenth-c entury

sies, and th e like. 51 Racism too plays a role

events, id eas, and people. Paul Kennedy,

here , as fev,1 Americans truly understand

writing in the 1980s, portrayed seventeenth-

the difference between Spaniards and the

century Spain without Prescott's Protestant

Latinos in search of citizenship in th e United States. It is no accident, therefo re,

bias or references to Spaniards' instinctive

that Spanish olive oil in the United States is

portrait of a mismanaged kingdom top-

generally marketed under assumed Italian

heavy with military expenditures; and

names such as "Pompeian" or "Progresso."

through this image, Kennedy transforms

Put simply, a gap still sepa rates th e two

a society that Prescott conceived as the

societies, reinforcing (mutual ) misund er-

antith es is of our nation into a specter of

standing and increasing th e temptation on

what an overextended United States might

the part of this country's peo pl e to view

soon become. 52

thinking is increasingly a thing of the past,

abhorrence for trade. What remains is a

Spaniards through a Prescottian lens.

Yet something h as definitely changed

* * *

since Prescott first published Ferdinand and

Isabel over 150 years ago. In the nineteenth

A final anecdote, trivial perhaps, will illus-

century, this country's histo rians regarded

trate that the topic of Spanish decline

Spain as th eir opposite. They looked back

retains much of th e popularity Prescott

to its seventeenth century as the exemplum

described in 184 3. About a year ago,

of everything our yo ung nation was not: backward, en ervated, a society in decline.

during a routine medical examination in

Few scholars understood - or cared to

Baltimore, my phys ician, upon learning about m y interes t in Spain's history, asked

understand - that decline was a relative

me for a quick summary of what I co nsid-

rather than an absolute concept. Even fewer compared Spanish accomplishments,

ered the reasons for the nation's declin e as a grea t power. The qu estion, he avowed,

was on e h e h ad long cons ide red but on e to whi ch h e h ad n eve r received a satisfac tory

1. The Litermy Memoranda of William Hickling Prescott, eel. C. Harvey Gard iner ( orman, 196 1), 1: 68.

an svver. As a historian , I tri ed to explain declin e as a relati ve ph e n o m e n on , bri efl y

2. Ibid., 1: 51, 97.

alluding to Kenn edy's b ook and to th e gen-

3. Ibid., 66. These memoranda are invaluable for understanding Prescott's methodology.

eral crisis of th e seventeenth century that affected , in addition to Spain , th e wh ole of the E urop ea n econ om y. I even asked him to consid e r ca refull y wh at h e m eant by the term "d eclin e ." Th e examination was soon over, m y shirt button ed up , but my measured response to th e qu e ry was cl ea rl y inad equate. M y doctor's view of Spain is surely diffe re nt fr om Prescott's, yet, without saying so directly, h e wa nted an answer

4. For his life, see George Ticknor, The Life of William Hickling Prescott (Boston, 1864); Stanley T. Williams, The Spanish Background of American Literature (New Haven, 1955 ), 2: 78-121; and C . Harvey Gardiner, William Hickling Prescott: A Biography (Austin , 1969).

5. Thomas Jefferson to John Rutledge, Paris, July 18, 1788, in Edward D umbauld, Thomas Jefferson, American Tourist (Norman, 1946), 148. Jefferson's Spanish books are catalogued in Thomas Jefferson's Library: A Catalog with Entries in His Own Order, eel.

James Gilreath and Douglas L. Wilson (Washington, D.C., 1969).

with at least on e of th e ele m ents th at Prescott wo uld h ave ass ign ed to Spanish decline: the rise of the Inquisiti on , the expulsion of the Jews, th e d efeat of the Spanish Armada, the lea d ership qualiti es of the H absburg monarch s, possibly even Spanishness itself. Gen eralizations are risky, but th e incident see m s to suggest that Sp anish hi story possesses a popular appea l fa r greate r th an m ost universiti es a nd colleges are likely to admit. M ore imp orta ntly, it serves as a remind e r that our U. S. ide ntity m ay still d epe nd on n ati on al histori es that are b oth con ceived and con stru cted as antith etical to o ur own .

This article represents an abbreviated and somewhat revised version of my previously published "Prescott's Paradigm: American Historica l Scholarship and the Decline of Spain," Am erican Historical Review 10 1 (1996): 423-46.

6. Jedidiah Morse, The American Universal Geography (Boston, 1816), 2: 349. See also the entries for Spain in Morse's Geography Made Easy, 5th eel. (Boston, 1796).

7. Quoted in Sister Marie Leonore Fell, The Foundations of N ativism in American Textbooks, 1783- 1860 (Wash ington, D.C ., 1941), 37. See also Francis Fitzgerald, America Revisited: History Schoolbooks in the Twentieth Century (Boston, 1972), 49.

8. The Letters of H enry Wadsworth Longfellow, eel . Andrew I-Iil en (Ca mbridge, Mass., 1966), l: 222.

9. The Com fJlete Worl?s of Washington Irving, eel.

Wayne R. Kime and Andrew B. Meyers, vol. 4, Journals (Boston, 1984), 140. Irving had been invited to Madrid

by Alexander Hill Everett, the American consul, to translate the first volum e of Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, Colecci6n de los viajes y descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los espafzoles clesde el fin del siglo .XV, 5 vols. (Mad ri d, 1825-1837).

10. The Papers of William Hickling Prescott, eel.

C. Harvey Gard iner (Urbana , 1964), 8.

11. Gardiner, Literary Memoranda , 1: 66.

12. Ibid., 97.

13. Will ian1 H . Prescott, Biographical and Critical Misce llanies (New Yo rk, 18-+5), 118. His review of Irving fi rst appeared in 1829. Prescott resented Irving's intrusio n into a subj ect h e rega rd ed as hi s own , once confiding to a fri e nd tha t Irving "h elped himself to two of th e biggest an d fa ttest sli ces" in th e Ca th oli c M onarc hs' reign . See William Hi ckling Prescott to Jarolcl Spa rks, Februa ry 1, 184 1, in The CorresfJondence of William Hickling Prescott, 1833-1847, eel . Roger Wolcott (Boston , 1925), 204.

21. For the m yth of na ti onal cha racte r, with parti cula r refe re nce to Spa in , see Juli o Caro Baro ja, El mito del caracter nacional (M ad rid , 1970).

22. Letters oflames Russell Lowell, eel . C h a rl es E liot Norto n (New York, 1893), 2: 235, 24 1.

23. H enry C h a rl es Lea, "Th e D ecad en ce of Spain," Atlantic Monthly 82 ( 1898): 40.

24. Ibid .

14. Prescott's view of th e Inquisition was undoubtedl y influe n ced by Jose Antoni o Ll o rente, A Critical History of the Inquisition of SfJain (Lond on, 182 3), first m e nti oned by him in 1826. See Gardin e r, Literary i\/Iemoranda, 1: 74, 96.

15. Gardin er, Literary Memoranda, 1: 140.

16. Willia m H . P rescott, History of the Reign of PhilifJ II of Spain (Boston , 1855), l: 3, 145, 554. M a n y of Grea t Brita in 's nineteenth-century I-Iispani sts h eld sim ila r views of Spa in , and of th e Inquisiti on in pa rti c ular.

See, fo r example, Ri ch ard Ford, A Hand-Boal<: fo r Travellers in Spain and Readers at H ome ( 184 5), eel .

Ian Ro be rtson (Ca rbondale, Ill ., 1966), l: 41 8-21.

Th e history of British Hispanism , along with tha t within th e U nited States, rema ins to be writte n , alth o ugh th e la tter m ay be approach ed th ro ugh Williams,

Spanish Background.

17. Prescott, Biographical and Critical Miscellanies, 11 2.

18. P resco tt's negati ve view o f empi re, de rived in part from Ad am Sm ith , helps to expla in his determ in ed oppositi o n to th e M exica n Wa r and th e an nexa ti on of Texas. See, fo r exampl e, Prescott to George Sumn er, April 1, 184 7, Correspondence, 627, whe re h e refers critically to "our m ad ambition for con qu est." See also the le tte r to Sumner cited below in no te 20.

19. P rescott, Philip II, 2: 446.

20. For Prescott's politi cal views, see Ga rdin er, Biogra fJhy, 95, 166-68. T h at history offe red Prescott a refu ge from d o m esti c politi cs beca m e pa tently clear in 1846, wh e n in the m idst of writi ng The Conquest of Peru a nd with specific refe rence to th e Mexica n Wa r, Prescott wrote th e foll owing in a le tter to George Sumn er: "I am sick of o ur dom esti c tro ubl es .... I take refuge from th em in Pe ru vian hill s, wh ere th e clevilclorns I read of- bl ack en o ugh-have a t least no reference to o urselves ." Presco tt to Sumner, May 15, 1846,

Correspondence, 597.

25. Arch er M. Hunting to n, Sfx 1in (New York, 1898), 2.

ate-Book on Northern

26. Ibid ., 2, 7.

27. C h arles B. C urtis, Velazquez and Murillo: A Descri fJtive and Historical Catalogue . .. (New York and Lo ndon , 1883), 1.

28. C ha ndle r Post, A History of Spcmish Painting (Camb ridge, 1930), 1: 10. T h is work was preced ed by E. W . Was hburn , The Spanish Masters (New York, 1884); C ha rl es H. Caffin , The Story of Spanish Painting ( ew Yo rk, 1910); Georg iana Goddard King, The Way of Saint James (New Yo rk, 1920); John Ke nn eth Conan t, The Cathedral of Scmtiago de Compostela (Camb ridge, 1926); and A. Ki ngsley Porter, Spanish Romanesque SculfJture (Florence, 1928).

29. Ea rl J. H amilton , American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 150 1- 1650 (Cam bridge, Mass., 1934), 303.

30. Of c ru cial importan ce was John H. E lli ott's essay, "Th e D ecli n e of Spa in ," Past and Present 20 (196 1): 52-75, now reprinted in hi s S/Jain and Its World, 1500-1700 (New H ave n, 1990), 217-40.

31. M an y of Am erica Castro's ideas abo ut Spa nish c ulture may be fo und in his influ e ntial study, The Structure of Spanish History, tra ns. E el mun cl L. King (Prin ceton , 1954).

32. Post, l: 23.

33. Re prese n ta tive ti tles incl ud e Jona tha n Brown, Images and Ideas in Seventeenth-Century Spanish Art (Prin ceton , 1978) a nd his Velazquez: Painter and Courtier ( ew H ave n and Lond on , 1986); Jona tha n Brown and John I-I. E lli ott, A Palace for a King: The Bue n Reti ro and the Court of PhilifJ IV (New H ave n and Lon don, 1980); William B. Jordan and Pe ter C h erry, S/Janish Still Life from Velazquez to Goya (London, 1995); and Ca th erine Wilkinson Zern er, Juan de Herrera: Architect to Philip II of Spain ( ew H ave n and Lo ndon , 1993).

3-+. Jonathan Brown , Kings and Connoisseurs (New I-:laven and London, 1995).

41 . Adrian Shubert, At Five in the Afternoon (Oxford, forth com ing).

35. D avid R. Ringrose, Patterns, Events, and Preconceptions: Revisiting the Structures of SfJanish History, 1700- 1900 (Ca mbridge, 1995). D avid Sven Reh er empl oyed a similar meth odology in his Town and Country in Pre-Industrial SfJain (Cambridge,

42. Am ong a recent avalanche of revisionist works on th e Inquisition, notable studi es by U. S. auth ors in clude Steph en I-Iali czer, Inquisition and Society in the Kingdom of Valencia (Berkeley, 1990), and E. W illi am Monter, Frontiers of Heresy: The SfJCmish Inquisition from the Basque Lands to Sicily (Ca mbridge, 1990).

1992).

36. Representative titl es in clude Ida Altman , Emigrants and Society: Extremadura and America in the Sixteenth Century (Berkeley, 1989); Jodi Bilinkoff, The Avila of Santa Teresa: Religious Reform in a Sixteenth-Century City (Ith aca, 1989); Ca rla Rahn Phillips, Ciudad Real, 1500-1700: Growth, C risis and Readjustment in the Spanish Economy (Ca mbridge, 1979); and D avid E. Vass berg, Land and Society in Golden Age Castile (Ca m bridge, 1984) and his recent The Village and the Outside World in Golden Age Castile (Cambridge,

4 3. On this point, see Henry Kam en , The Phoenix and

the Flame: Catalonia and the Counter Reformation (London and Tew Haven, 1993).

44. See H enry Ka men, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision (London and New Haven, 1998).

45. I refer h ere to Jaim e Contreras, Sotos contra

Riquelmes: Regidores, inquisidores, y criptojud fos (Madrid , 1992).

1996).

46. Elli ott, SfJain and Its World, 69.

37. Th e Ca talan periph ery has proven especially attractive in view of th e many differences between this part of th e peni nsula and Castil e, the region th at Prescott and ind eed m ost historians have identifi ed with Spain .

Ca talonia is th e focus ofJames S. Am elang, H onored

Citizens of Barcelona: Patrician Culture and Class Relations, 1490- 1714 (Prin ceton , 1986), and Peter Sahl ins, Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees (Berkeley, 1989).

38. I allude here to Jam es S. Am elang, Journal of the

Plague Year: The Diary of the Barcelona Tanner Miquel Parets, 165 1 (New York, 199 1); Ri chard L. Kagan , Lucrecia's Dreams: Politics and Prophecy in Sixteenth-Century Spain (Berkeley, 1990); Sara T. Nall e, God in La Mancha: Religious Reform and the People of Cuenca, 1500-1650 (Baltim ore, 199 2); Ca rla Rahn Phillips, Six Ga lleons for the King of S fJC1in: ImfJerial Defense in the Early Seventeenth Century (Baltimore, 1986); and Jam es Boyden, The Courtier and the King: Ruy Gomez de Silva, Philip II, and the Court of SfJain (Berkeley, 1995).

39. Helen ader, Liberty in Absolutist Spain: The I-Iabsburg Sale ofTowns, 1516-1700 (Baltim ore, 199 1), exam in es th e checks limiting th e exercise of m onarch ical power in Castil e. I expect that th e fo rmulation of th e Habsburg monarchy as more limited th an absolute will soon establish itself as a new orthodoxy.

40. Bethany Aram , "Joanna ' th e M ad"s Signature: Linking Indi vidual and Co rporate Bodies," unpublished paper. Aram, whose seni or th esis at Yale dealt with Juana, is presentl y a graduate student in hi story at Johns Hopkin s.

47. I refer to ader, Liberty in Absolutist Spain, whi ch, its lack of a comparati ve focus notwithstanding, remains an important and provocative book. James S. Am elang has offered similar criti cism of this and oth er recent books (primarily by U. S. authors) on va rious aspec ts of ea rly m odern Spain; cf. Journal of Modern History 65 (June 1993): 357- 74.

48. John C row, Spain: The Root and the Flower (1963: reprint Berkeley, 1985), 9.

49. Such ideas are expressed in th e introducti on and conclusion of Ca rl os M . 1 . Eire, From Madrid to

Purgatory: The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth-Century Spain (Ca mbridge and New York, 1995).

50. See Kirkpatri ck Sale, The Conquest of Paradise (New York, 199 1) and oth er publi ca ti ons spawned by th e quincentenary of 1992.

51. T hese stereotypes may be fo und in James Michener's Iberia ( ew York, 1968), but they are by no mea ns uniqu e to th e United States. E ncouraged by th e Spani sh M inistry of Tourism during th e 1960s in ord er to attract fo reign visitors, th ey ca n also be fo und in Bartolome Bennassa r, L'homme espagnol (Paris, 1975); tra ns. Benj amin Keen as The Spanish Character (Berkeley, 1979).

52. For his disc ussion of Spa nish declin e, see Paul Kenn edy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (New York, 1987), 31-55.

I MAGE AND D EVOTIO

I

L ATE FIFTEENTI-I-

AND EARLY SIXTEE ITH-CENTURY SPA

ISI-I P AINT!

G

Lynette M. F. Bosch Brandei s University

The spiritual exercises of Renaissance Spain were generated by a population of

worldly manner of regarding reality.

Representations of the devout praying

worshipers hoping to achieve a closer con-

before an image, kneeling at a prie-clieu on

nection to Goel through prayer and medita-

which rests an open book, are ubiquitous in

tion . M ystical union with the deity was th e

late Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque

desired goal of the privileged. For those

art. We have grown so accustomed to see-

not naturally bl essed with the ability to

ing these images that we assume our under-

transcend earthly reality to join with the

standing of their meaning. To modern eyes,

Divine, the path toward m ystic union

these representations can see m straightfor-

could b e mad e more accessible by th e

ward and conventional. We lose , in th e his-

d evelopm ent of compassionate love for

torical gap that separates u s from their cre-

Christ and humanity. Spanish th eologians

ators, th e subtextual nuances that would

and mystics, from the Middle Ages to the

have been part of the earlier culture's

Counter Reformation, stress th e joy of

understa nding of th eir significance . But,

compassionate love and its ability to pro-

more importantly, we have lost an instinc-

vide access to the ecstasy of "knowing"

tu al interpretation of these images b eca use

Goel. For the average clergy or layperso n,

we belong to a culture that is predomi-

the development of this particular type of

nantly secular and generally not interested

selfl ess, unqualifi ed love was furth e red by

in spiritual developme nt. The temporal

a se ri es of devotional practices. These

gap that separates us from Re naissanc e and

included th e rea ding of inspirational po etry

Baroque Spain is, therefore, mad e even

or prose, praye r, meditation, and th e con-

wider. C losing this gap requires an appreci-

templation of images likely to produc e the

ation of the sea rch for spiritual illumina-

so ught-afte r e motional state. H e n ce, pic-

tion , or e nlightenment, in which th e

tures, prayers, and poetry paved the mystic

d evo ut engaged from th e Middle Ages to

road to spiritual fulfillm ent and the elimi-

the Early Modern period.

nation of th e selfish desires intrinsic to th e

The representation of acts of devotion

was accepted by tb e Church at the second Nic en e Council in 787 . It was later summarized by Saint John of Damascus, who wrote, "The honour shown to th e image is transferred to the prototype, and whoever honours an image honours th e p erson represented by it." 1 The origin of devotional images is much earlier, as it is of Early Christian institution. Its significanc e is expressed in Saint Gregory's letter to Secundinu s, "When yo u see an image of Him yo u are inflamed in your soul by love of Him Whose picture yo u wish to see. We do no h arm in wishing to show the invisible by m ea ns of th e visible." 2 For th e Early Christian and early M edi eval p eriods, prayer b efor e an image existed as a simple interaction of intent, action, and object. As th e Pse udo-Dionys us had written in his "Ecclesiastical Hi erarchies," th e outcome of praying in this mann er was th e de ep ening of spiritual understanding and an elevation of the intell ect from the material to th e spiritual plan e. 3 The straightforward approach to praye r before images was mad e more complex by

Fig. 1. Ma estro de Sopetran, Patron Kneeling

before an Altar, ca. 1470, oil on panel. Prado Museum , Madrid. (All photographs in this essay are from Arxiu Mas, Barcelona. )

Saint Augustin e's hi erarchical ranking of th e pro cess of seeing. 4 Augustine class ified

categori zation , and ranking of sight

hum an sight into three categories: corpo-

b eca m e part of th e con ceptual stru cture

real , spiritual, and intell ectual.5 Corporeal

of Medieval Catholicism and was under-

sight is th e phys ical process of seeing.

scored by Saint Bernard 's statem ent that "a

Spiritual vision co nsists of th e ability to

holy image of God , b eing born, su ckling,

recall objects not prese nt or to imagin e

teaching, dying, res urrecting or ascen ding"

wh at h as not bee n seen based on verbal or

aids in an individu al's praye rs by rend ering

textual d esc riptions . This typ e of vision

these eve nts accessible. 6 It should , hO\,v-

enfolds memory and imagination. The

ever, be kept in mind that along with this

third , an d high est, type of vision is intel-

endorsement for prayer before im ages,

lectual, b eca use it is capabl e of und er-

Saint Bernard also cau tion ed worship ers

st anding abstrac t concepts that ca n lea d to

that tru e mystics should avoid th e use of su ch artifi cial stimuli. 7

th e und erstanding of God. The separati on ,

31

Th e acce pted interaction between vvorship er and im age and th e stru ctured categorization of vision led to a hi erarchical represe ntational tradition in whi ch th e three typ es of vision are diffe rentiated.

H en ce, the d epiction of a worshiper praying b efor e a painting or a statu e is an exampl e of corporeal vision (fi g. 1). Th e representation of a worshipe r praying but not gazing directly a t an obj ect was a n allu sion to spiritual vision . In som e cases, th e allusion to spiritual vision would be mad e more explicit by d epicting the worshipe r's gaze as bypassing an obj ect and fo c u sing on an image that exists indep ende nt of phys ical confin e m ent \Vithin a work of art (fi g. 2).

Fig. 2. Anonymous, Virgin of the Catholic Kings,

Exampl es of this typ e of visionary represen-

ca. 1490, oil on panel. Prado Muse um, Madrid.

tation d epi ct see ming "apparitions" of, for instance, th e Virgin and Child to a p e rson

wo rshipe r's m editation .

The representation of the third typ e of

kn eeling in prayer.

These "apparitions" are not, stri ctly

vision, the intell ectual, is more complex.

sp eaking, m eant to b e unde rstood as b eing

Inte rpreting su ch m etaphoric paintings

actual visions; su ch m anifes tations are lim-

again depe nds on appropria tely identify ing

ited to those p e rsons who a re blessed with

the p erson represented. Thus, a painting of

the abilities of a m ysti c . Rath er, th ese

Saint Cath erine of Sie na kneeling before

d epictions a re allusions to the subj ect

the cru cifi ed Christ is a representation of an

on whi ch the worshipe r m editates .

intellectual, or m ystic, vision of the high est

Differe ntiating b etween th e representation

degree . If the c ru cified C hrist is d epicted

of co nte mplative m editation a nd a tru e

"appearing" to som eon e n ot a m ystic, th en

visionary exp erie n ce requires th e acc urate

th e d epi cted sce n e is of spiritual vision and

id entifi cation of th e p erson represented .8 A

the wo rshipe r is simply m editating on th e

painting of Saint Fran cis in ecstasy at th e

C rucifixion.

moment of receiving the stigm ata, as h e

Re naissa n ce and Counter-Reform ation

gazes up on th e c ru cified b ody of C hrist, is

Spain inherited the nuan ced visual vocabu-

a represe ntation of a vision. A painting of a

la ry of vision ary exp erie nce en cod ed by

worshipe r who is not a m ystic, represented

M edi eval artists, b ased on th e (by th en )

gazing at th e Virgin a nd C hild , is not a

codified stages of m editation , speculation ,

represe ntation of a tru e vision but is a rep-

and conte mplation .9 Spanish a rtists m elded

resentation of spiritual vision , wh erein th e

this represe ntation al tradition with the par-

Virgin and C hild a re th e subj ect of th e

ticular qualiti es of spirituality ch aracteri stic

32

of Spain, thus developing a style of painting

Aristotle, the comparison between image

that uited the goal of Spanish religious

and thought paralleled the process of a seal

experience. By the middle of the fifteenth

on wax by imprinting the imagination with

century, Spanish spirituality possessed a tra-

a defined and recognizable form. In Lhis

dition of prayer and mysticism that \Vas sin-

manner, abstract concepts were rendered

gularly focused on the development of

accessible. Aristotle's thinking on the sub-

compassionate love as a prelude to mystic

ject influenced Simonides, Plutarch, and

union and on venerating the body of Christ

Cicero, whence it passed into Medieval

as the gateway and adjunct to enlighten-

culture.

ment. As the complement to this spiritual tradition, Spanish artists developed repre-

In his Rationale, Durandus wrote,

sentational styles that reflected the values inherent in Spain's spiritual culture, which

Pictura ... plus videtur movere animum

they transposed into visual form.

quam scriptura. Per picturam quidern

The efficacy with which images could

res gesta ante oculos ponitur; sed per

encourage spiritual development had been

sc ripturam res gesta quasi per auditum

discussed by Thomas Aquinas, for whom

qui minus movet animurn ad memoriam revoca tur.

12

fuit autem triplex ratio institutioneis imaginum in ecclesia: primo ad instructionem rudium qui eis quasi quibusdam libris edocent. Secundo ut incarnationis mysterium

By the early fifteenth century, the formulas

+ sanctorum exempla magis in memoria essent dum quotidi e oculis repraesentatur.

Tertia ad excitandum affectum quod ex visis efficacius incitatur quan ex auditis. 10

for the representation of devotions had, themselves, become subject to hierarchical classification according to aesthetics.

o

less a person than Jean Gerson, at this time, condemned what he perceived to be

In taking this position vis-a-vis images,

the widespread abuse of pictorial assistance

Aquinas was drawing on classical precedent

for spiritual development through the pref-

originating with Aristotle, who had written

erence of beautiful pictures over others

on the power that images have to stir the

implicitly more severe in style. I 3 Gerson's

imagination and the emotions by giving

dictum , which supported an already preva-

visual form to

thought. 11

According to

le nt position, had significant implications

*"There was a threefold reason for the institution of images in th e Church: first, for the instruction of the unlettered, who might learn from them as if from books; second, so that th e mystery of th e Incarnation and th e exa mpl es of th e sa ints might remain more firmly in our memory by being daily represented to our eyes; and third, to excite th e emotions which are more effec tively aroused by things seen than by things heard." **"Pictures move the so ul more than text. Because a pi cture represents things to th e eyes; but text can only be hea rd and this moves th e soul and awakens the memory less."

33

for th e styli tic developm ent of Spanish art, whi ch con i tently, during th e fifteenth century, esch ewed th e dec orative b eauty of Italian and N eth erlandish art. \iVheth er influ enc ed directly by G erson, or simply by the movem ent G erson represented , Spanish patrons evinced a preferen ce for images that depi cted an au stere, if not downright stark, reality. This severe style was esp ecially evident in representations of the body of Christ during and immediately after the Passion.

Two Piedades, one by Fernando Gall ego (fig. 3) and th e other by Bartolome Berm e jo (fi g. 4), 14 exemplify th e stylisti c ch aracteristics of Ren aissan ce Spain's spiri-

Fig. 3. Fe rn and o Gall ego, Piedad (Lam enta ti on ),

tual vision and its relationship to the

late 1470s, oil on panel. Prado M use u rn ,

Devotio M oderna (a religious movem ent

Mad rid.

emphas izing m editation , good works, and praye r over liturgical ritu als) . Those famil-

"Vitae Christi" b egan to circulate, the

iar with Christianity's basic ten ets know

graphi c p ainted images ch aracteristi c of

that the joys of th e Virgin are acc ompa-

fifteenth-century art took on a ch arged

nied by th e greatest sorrow a moth er ca n exp erien ce, th e loss of h er child , vvh o \vill

significan ce for Spanish sp ectators, \vh o

b e cru cified so that humanity can be

ing recently read the desc riptive texts. In all

saved . To assist in th e visualization of th e

instan ces, th ey served to fo cus th e attenti on

Virgin's so rrow, as an aid to th e develop-

of th e viewer on Christ's pain, as worshipers

m ent of compassion, numerous treatises

m editated on the significan ce of his sac ri-

on th e life of Christ were \Vritten in

fi ce for their person al salvation.

E urop e during th e late Middle Ages and

looked at them while reading or after h av-

T h e moving n arrative and descriptive

the ea rl y Ren aissa n ce . M ost notable

style of the "Vitae Christi" at times inspired

among th ese we re th e treatises written by

poets with the desire to elicit a compassion-

the foll owers of the Devotio J\!Ioderna ,

ate response from their audien ce, thro ugh

wh ose "Vitae C hristi " provid ed so m e of

co m pa rably graphic poetic descriptions of

the most graphic d escriptions of th e Passion, C rucifixion, and Entombment. 15

Christ and th e Virgin's vida dolorosa. One su ch poem, which wo uld h ave b een known

Th e exc ruciating deta il of descriptions of

in Spain to sixteenth-century wo rship ers,

the "Vitae Christi" fo und a parall el in th e

was Fray In igo Lop ez de M end oza's

scen es depi cted in Spanish illuminated

"Lam entaci6n a la Quinta An gustia,

m anusc ripts and pan el p aintings. Once the

Ouando

34

u estra Senora Tenfa a Iu estro

Senor en Los Brazos" (Lamentation of the Virgin wh en She H eld Our Lord in H er Arms).16 The poem was \;<,1ritten in the late 1480s, during which time Fray Inigo preach ed at th e court of Isabel de C astilla.

Hence, th e content and style of his devotional poems would have been known to th e upper classes, th e very group that purchased th e paintings of Gallego and Berme jo. Those who wish ed to pray and m editate on the event of the "Lam entation" could have combined the content of Fray Inigo's poem \Vith the images provided by Gall ego and Berm e jo. In so doing, they would have found m atching values in th e text and in a painting's graphically descriptive and emotional rendition of th e event.

Fray Inigo's compassionate description of the Virgin's sorrow at C hrist's Passion and death was as m oving and explicit as was Gall ego and Berme jo's portrayal: Fij o mfo, ya espirastes, Ay, qu e no puedo valeros!

Yo, mi bi en me mu ero en veros qu an diferente qu ecl astes, qu e no puedo conosceros!

Vuestras penas fenescieron y las mfas co mencaron : pues mis ojos qu e la vieron lloren bien, pues que percli eron quantos bienes clesearon .•

Yeo tu llagas abiertas, mas no de dolor vazfas. •• Yeo tus ojos qu ebraclos y tus cabellos sa ngri ento ; tus bracos, de los tormentos por fu erca clescoyuntaclos, me llaga n los pensa mientos. ••• At one point in the poem , in an open appeal to the compassionate, the Virgin asks that all should ,,veep with h er, with so m any tea rs, that los mantes agua sud en; los rayos cl el sol se mu den. •••• The poem 's emphasis on sight, as the Virgin looks at the suffering Christ, and the invitation to the reader to share in the Virgin's sorrow indicate a participatory sensibility grounded in the image represented in the painting and in the image evoked by the poem's words. As the poem links sight to awaren ess and parti cipation , it performs a process similar to that exemplified in Gall ego's and Berme jo's Piedades, wh ere visual fo rm is given to the sam e image of sorrovv described in the poem . Thus are poems and pictures li nked in a private devotion that could not h elp but arouse in th e spectator/worshiper the compassionate love

*"My son, you have died, I Oh, but I ca nnot bea r it! I In truth , I too am dying; I How different you are now, I I can hardl y recogni ze you! I your sufferings are over I and mine have just begun: I fo r my eyes whi ch saw your suffering I cry deeply, for they have lost sight I of the joys th ey wished you." (Stanza I); see note 16. "*"I see your open wounds, I but they are not emp ty of pain ." (S tanza XIII)

***"I see your empty eyes I an d your bloody hai r; I your arms, which fro m torture I were pulled fro m their sockets, I they woun d my thoughts." (S tanza)(\!) ****"The mountains will be submerged I and the rays of th e sun will be muted." (Stanza Ill)

35

necessary for the ascent to an elevated state

artists emphasized the significance of the

of spiritual development.

represented subject. Hence, Spanish Renaissance style should be understood as the successful outcome of a deliberate desire to render Spanish spiritual values in

An old Spanish proverb tates that "Nose

visual form. To Spanish eyes, the rendition

va al cielo en coche" (One does not get to heaven in a carriage). 17 The pithy saying

of pain was the visual path to spiritual

incorporates the complexity that underlies

ascent.

The precedent for this ascent had been

the particularly Spanish expression of the

established in the writings of Spanish mys-

larger currents of Western European mysti-

tics , whose longing for union with God was

cism. Spanish mysticism is severe of style,

expressed in terms of the attainment of the

pruned of luxurious excess, and free from

compassionate love that would make this

the softer, more attractive, aspects of spiri-

union possible.19 Spanish mysticism had

tuality. As David Rubio has written, "In the

its roots in patristic tradition and was,

field of Christianity with which \Ve are con-

throughout its history, linked to Western

cerned now, mysticism has its foundation

European currents of religious expression.

in the firm belief that God, and only God,

One early influence on Spanish mystics

can fulfill the infinite longings of the

can be found in the writings of the Pseudo-

human heart. It is this deep religious belief

Dionys us, whose Neoplatonic vision of an

that characterized and dominated the spirit

ascent to God through prayer became

of Spain completely the moment she

incorporated into Spain's mystical tradi-

adopted Christianity." 18

tion. 20 Saint Augustine's hierarchical rank-

Considered within this context, the

ing of prayer and m ystical development

Piedades of Gallego and Be rm e jo emerge as the visual renditions par excellence of

also b ecame part of Spanish spirituality, along with strong influence from the

Spain's spiritual aesthetics. The austere

graphic "Vitae Christi" written by the

drawing, the severe style of painting, th e

followers of th e Devotio Modema .21

striking coloristic effects, and the painstak-

Renaissa nce and Counter-Reformation

ing portrayal of Christ's wounds and the

developments in Spanish spirituality would

Virgin 's sorrow evoke Spain's mysticism .

amplify and elaborate upon this base.

Simultaneously, the stark reality given to

Prominent among Spanish Renaissa nce

the body of Christ and facial expression of

m ystics, who focused their attention on the

the Virgin focus the spec tator's attention

process of prayer and its role in the d evel-

on their pain. As the spectator's emotions

opment of mysticism , was Francisco de

are engaged by this uncompromising rendi-

O suna , who wrote in th e early sixteenth

tion of suffering and sorrow, an empath etic

century. In his treatise on "Th e Three

response is evoked that functions as a con-

Ways of Prayer," Osuna advocated vocal

duit to th e d evelopment of compassionate

prayer, prayer within the h eart, and m ental

love. By limiting d ecorative bea uty, Spain's

or spiritual prayer, thereby paralleling

Saint ugu stine's classifications . For vocal

although a small part of O suna's writings,

praye r, O suna favored the "Pater Noster" as

combine to es tablish a b ase for underst and-

the prayer that would most effi caciously

ing how Medieval Spanish m ystics con-

furth e r compassionate love. For th e prayer

ceived th e interaction b etween prayer and

within the h ea rt, O suna encouraged th e

spiritual d evelopment. It is clear th at th e

d evo ut to engage in holy thought a nd to

hierarch y began with composed prayer,

m editate upon the sac red Passion. But, h e

progressed to contemplation of th e Passion,

cautioned that, "This seco nd mann er of

and achieved fulfillm ent in the full cultiva-

prayer, which is th e thinking and u sing

tion and express ion of compassiona te love.

of holy thoughts, would not seem to be

The process of contemplation is

fitting to b eginners nor to the unle ttered."

described by one of Osuna's contempo-

O suna's words imply that m editating on th e

raries, Fray Juan d e los Angeles, who took

Passion and the physical suffe ring of Christ

his lead from the "Vitae Christi." One por-

n ecess itates a more advanced st ate of spiri-

tion of the fri ar's "Dfalogos" explicitly

tual d evelopm ent than that required for the

stated,

recitation of a composed prayer. In writing this, O suna und erscored th e connection

Contemplaci6n es un mirar agudo y una

between spiritual ascent and compassion-

vista despabilada y libre del alma, que se

ate love. This connection was stressed in

derrama por todas las cosas dignas de

his d esc ription of th e third m anner of

consideraci6n, y en ellas, investigando y

prayer, "whereby th e high est part of our

rastreando, coma perro de muestra, halla

soul in th e high est purity and affection is

lo que la voluntad busca; al cual gusto se

raise d to God upon the wings of d esire and

sigue un conocimiento mayor y mas alto, que

holy aspiration stre ngthe n ed by love ."22

el que se alcanza por solo el entendimiento

O suna co ntinu ed his presc ription of love

o por leer las divinas Escrituras. â&#x20AC;˘2+

as the pre requisite to salva tion and union in his "Of I-low Thou Shouldst Seek This

This description of an ac ute gaze, an

Love." In this treatise, h e counseled the

awakened vision, th e res ult of an e nlight-

withdra\val from sin, the practice of virtue,

e ned will, and a sp iritual vision keys into

and th e abandonment of material posses-

th e rep rese ntational tra dition that d epi cts

sions. Those who comply with th ese

worshipers praying not to an object but to

instru ctions will achieve selfl ess love and

a n image that represe nts th e subj ect on

acquire the "strength to take by force th e

whi ch th ey meditate.

Kingdom of I-leaven with great violenc e

This secondary level of contemplation

and power of love." 23 The two treatises,

sh ould be followed, according to Fray Juan

*"Contemplation is an acute gaze and an awakened and free vision of th e soul , that spills out onto all of th e thin gs worthy of being considered, and in wh ich, by in ves tigating and rummaging, as does a scavenging clog, there is found th at for whi ch the will search es; foll owing upon this is a higher recognition, th an th at whi ch can be reached only by understanding or by reading the divin e Scriptures."

37

d e los Angeles, by a third level that is ide ntifi abl e with a truly m ystic state. Aga in, in th e

"D ia ' 1ogos, " l1e wro t e, E l qu e se retira y entra adentro a busca r a Di as, algunas veces se sirve de la raz6 n y de la imaginaci6n o representaci6n de las cosas, y guard a m odo y ord en en sus entradas; otras veces es h echo superior a la raz6 n y no guard a m odo, ni reconoce image n es de cosas corporales, porque n o usa de los sen ti dos .*25 Ju an d e los Angeles affirm ed wha t m ystics in an y traditi on sh are: the awa ren ess

F ig. 4 . Bartolom e Be rm e jo, Piedad (Lam e n ta tion ),

that th e true m ystic way is b eyond the reach

1490, oi l on pan el. Cath edra l M u se u m,

of the body, as it lies within the tru e work-

Barcelon a.

ings of the mind rem oved from the physicality of corporeal existen ce. 26 At this stage,

their p red ecessors in the luxurious b eauty of

the m ysti c h as no n eed for praye r, m edita-

the evocative lan gu age that appears in their

tion , or images, as the search for Goel is

wo rk . The language of O sun a and his pre-

compl eted without th ese a ids. Th e d escrip-

d ecessors was spare and direct. Tha t of

tion of these three stages, with their accom-

Sa int Teresa and Saint John of the C ross is

pan ying signifi can ce, also appears in the

the lush lan gu age of aro usal and con sum-

writings of Sa int Teresa of Avila and Sa int

mation. An exa mple of this style of writing

John of the C ross .27

ca n be fo und in the first stan za of the lat-

Although the m ysticism of Saint Teresa and Saint John of th e Cross find s its roots

ter's "Spiritual Canticle," which b egins with the words

within traditions of Spanish m ysticism , its prope r chronological c ontext places it after

lA dond e te escondi ste,

the absorption by the Rom an C hurch of the

Amado, y me dexaste con ge mido?

previously ind epe nd ent Spanish

C hurch .28

Co m o el ciervo huyis te

H en ce, th e m ystical express ion of these two

Avi endo m e h erido;

saints is m arkedly diffe re nt from that of

Sall tras tf clamando, y eras ydo. â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘29

*"I-le wh o re tires and en te rs with in to seek God , some tim es employs reason a nd imagina ti on or th e representation of things, and establish es m ann e r an d orde r in hi s e ntri es; othe r ti m es h e opts for a supe rior m ode and does n ot use reason, n or recogni zes representati on s of ph ysical things, beca u se h e doe not use the senses." ** "Whe re h ave you hidde n , I Beloved , a nd left m e m oa ning? I Yo u fl ed like th e stag I Afte r wounding m e; I I went out ca lling You , and You were gon e."

Equally sensuous is Saint Teresa's passage, from h er Libra de Su Vida, in which sh e describ es one of the typ es of vision with

To our eyes, fiftee nth-century Spanish art

which sh e has b een blessed:

can see m awkward . This is b ecause we are trained , in part, to evaluate quality through

En es ta vision quiso el Sefior le viese

its equation with d ecorative b eauty, a sys-

ansf. ... Vefa le en las manos un dardo de

tem of valu es promoted by th e popularity,

oro largo, y al fin clel hi erro m e parecfa

in \tVeste rn European art historical circles,

tener un poco d e fuego. Este m e parecfa

of Italian and N eth e rlandish art.

meter con el coraz6n algunas veces, y

Appreciating Spa nish styl e re quires an

que me ll egaba a las entrafias: al saca rle

abandonment of th e prevalent canon of

me pa recfa las ll evaba consigo, y me

artistic excelle n ce imposed by many of the

de jaba toda a brasa cl a e n am or grande de

found e rs of our discipline. Once the shift

Di os. Era tan gra ncl e el dolor, que me

in our aesthetic valu es is mad e, th e refu sal

hacfa clar aqu ell os quejiclos, y tan eces iva

of fifteenth-century Spanish artists to

la su avi clacl qu e m e pone este granclfsimo

incorporate Italian style and accurate

dolor, que no h ay clesea r que se quite , ni se contenta el alma co n menos qu e Di os. â&#x20AC;˘ 30

etherlandish tec hnique in their works can be seen in a different light. Instead of con sid e ring Spanish style to b e an indicator of that country's isolation or of its artists'

In its d elicacy and lyrical evocations of

lack of expertise, Spain's style during the

spiritual ascent, th e lan guage of saints

Renaissa nc e can b e und erstood as b eing an

Teresa and John b espeaks of a new aesthetic

accurate index of Spa in's religious valu es .

more in keeping with an Italian ate sensibil-

If we recall Gerson's proclamation of inhe r-

ity than with that of Spain's Stoicism.

ent spiritual sup eriority for works that

Although Spanish Stoicism still survived in

esch ewed d eco rati ve beauty, then we can

the work of som e of their conte mporaries,

und erstand Spa in's Renaissance religious

the style of po em s and prose by sa ints

art as being refl ecti ve of a cultural awa re-

Teresa a nd John was the ind ex of futur e

n ess that pl aced high er value on art d evoid

d evelopments. This new aesthetic \.vould

of cosm etic co mmodification .

also surface in sixteenth-cen tury Spanish

The austerity and severity that character-

painting, which broke, in the work of van-

ize fifteenth-century Spanish painting are

gu ard a rtists, with th e representational

ubiquitous. Yet, within the consistent stylis-

styles establish e d in fifteenth-century art.

tic characteristics of indigenous produ ction

*"It pleased th e Lord that I should sec this angel in the following way.... In his hands I saw a long golden spear and at th e encl of th e iron tip I seemed to see a point of fire. With this he seemed to pierce my hea rt several tim es so th at it penetrated to my entrails. Wh en he drew it ou t, I th ought he was drawing them out with it and he left me completely afire with a grea t love for Goel . T he pa in was so sharp that it mad e me utter several moans; and so excessive was the sweetn ess ca used me by this intense pain that one can never wish to lose it, nor \Nill one's soul be content vvith anything less than Goel."

39

are found the variations and alternatives introduced into Spain by the importation of foreign works. Both Italian and etherlandish art was available for purchase in the Spanish market, particularly at the fairs of Burgos and Medina del Campo. 31 There, Spanish patrons could acquire works or establish connections to commission works from foreign artists. Hence,

etherlandish

influence can be detected in the figural style of Spanish art. Italian influence also surfaces sporadically during the fifteenth century, contributing to the eventual abandonment of the starkness that was essentially Spanish. The process of absorption and assimilation of foreign styles eventually diluted the Spanish aesthetic and led to styl-

Fig. 5. Lufs de Morales, Piedad (Lamentation),

istic changes that accompanied shifts in the

1553-155-+, oil on canvas. Cathedral Museum,

larger context of Spanish culture.

It is evident, when one looks at the

Baclajoz.

sixteenth-century style of Lufs de Morales's

different from that of Gallego and Bermejo,

Piedad (fig. 5) and the Virgin and Child

whose work amplifies the effects that torture

(fig. 6) (probably produced by his work-

and death have had on Christ's body, there-

shop), that it differs significantly from that

by corresponding to the Spanish aesthetic of

of Gallego and Bermejo. 32 The differences

spiritual austerity.

separating the work of these artists parallel

The introduction of lyrical beauty, the

the differences found between the writings of Saint Teresa and Saint John and their

hallmark of Morales's style, dramatically changes the interaction between the specta-

predecessors. Contrasting the works by

tor/worshiper, the emotional impact of the

Morales with those by Bermejo and

vvork, its aesthetic quality, and its locus

Gallego, these differences are largely the

within the cultural schema of Renaissance

result of Morales's use of Leonardesque

and Counter-Reformation religious art.

chiaroscuro. In Morales's paintings, the use

The emphasis on physical beauty found in

of chiaroscuro and sfumato creates images

Morales's images of the suffering Christ is

that are softly focused and bathed in misty, golden haze that accents the beauty of the

even more pronounced in the painting of the Virgin and Child. In this work, Morales

scene. Even in his tragic rendition of the

and his followers implement Leonardesque

Piedad, Morales's style softens the impact of

idealization along with chiaroscuro to cre-

the depicted event, rendering it an image of

ate an image that is in keeping with the Italian aesthetic of idealized beauty. 'T"'his

touching beauty. This approach is radically

stylistic ch ange indicates a shift in th e taste

adoption of an Itali an ate style and tech-

of Spanish patrons, but, even more signifi-

nique is an example of th e em ergen ce of

cantly, it indicates a ch ange in th e nature of the intera ctive relationship b etween

strong Italian influ en ce on Spanish art in the earl y sixteenth century. This is a signifi-

worship er and image .

cant developm ent, as Spanish art was

The increased ease of access inh erent in v,rorks of art dominated by an aesthetic of

previously more strongly affected by eth erlandish style, tra ces of which can

beauty stands in contrast to the compara-

also b e found in Moral es's work. This

tively more difficult appreciation of b ea uty

change in aesth etic sensibilities coincides

in its severe form , which , through its

with some fundam ental changes in the

emphasis on suffering, acts as a conduit

structure of the previously indep endent Spanish Church .

to compassionate love. Id ealized beauty addresses a different audien ce, seeking a

During the late fifteenth and early six-

more accessible and less confrontati on al

teenth centuries, the Spanish Church

path to compassionate love than does its

becam e increasingly controlled by the

severe counterpart. H en ce, th e shift found

Vatican , and Spain's liturgical and spiritual

in Lufs de Moral es's aesthetics indicates a

practices were regulated to accord with

shift in the spiritual practices of some

those of Rome. The principal architect of

Spanish patrons. Con currently, M orales's

this h egemoni c interaction betwee n th e C hurch in Spain and the Roman hierarchy was Cardinal Pedro Gonzalez de M endoza, archbi shop of Tol edo (1 482- 1495 ).33 Together with the "Reyes C at6licos," Isab el de Castilla and Fernando de Aragon , M endoza tighten ed the control by Rome on Spain's religious life, thereby reducing its national spirit and individualistic expression . Spanish spiritual and m ystical practices 'Nould h en ceforth conform to a Roman mod el, and th e shift in artistic style sign aled the administrative reforms that initiated the demise of Spain's fifteenthcentury style. Lufs de Morales's paintings are part of this cultural shift, which is also seen in m anuscript illumination.

An early, sixteenth-century, Tol edan Book of H ours, today in th e collection of

Fig. 6. Lu fs de Mo rales and foll owers, Virgin

th e Biblioteca de E l Escorial, is representa-

and C hild, 1555-1563, oil on canvas. Prado

tive of th e n ew, softer, style in manuscript

Museum , Madrid .

illumination.H This n ew style is evident in

41

the Virgin and Child page (fig . 7), where the enthroned Madonna plays with the Child as four singing and music-making angels look on. The representational style is clearly derived from Flemish painting and was especially inspired by the sweet style of Hans Memling.

Although Lufs de Morales's soft, chiaroscuro style was inspired more b y the art of Italy than b y that of Flanders, it is a perfect complement to the delicate language of the prayers to the Virgin found in Books of Hours3 5 such as the Z{1fiiga Hours.

The muted tonalities, and subtle aristocratic gestures and poses of his Virgin and

Child, evoke the exquisite language of the prayers " Obsecro Te" (I beseech you ,

Fig. 7. Anonymous, Virgin and Child, ea rl y

0 Virgin ) and "O Intemerata" (0, Immac-

16th century, Book of I-lours with arms of th e

ulate Virgin).36 Th e comparison is clear if

Zuniga family, manuscript illumination .

the words of the praye rs are read wh ile look-

Biblioteca de El Escorial, El Escorial.

ing at Morales's painting. A portion of the "Obsecro Te" reads:

thin gs that I will do, that I will say, that I will think, in every day, night, hour, and

I beseech yo u, Mary, holy lady, mother of

moment of m y life. And sec ure for m e,

God, most full of piety, daughter of the

yo ur servant, from yo ur esteem ed Son th e

greatest King, most glorious mother, mother

fulln ess of all m ercy and consolation, all

of orphans, consolation of the desolate, th e

counsel and aid, all h elp , all bl essings and

way for those who stra y, salvation for those

san ctification, all salvation, peace and

who hope in you, Virgin before giving birth ,

prosperity, all joy and gladness, and an

Virgin while giving birth, Virgin after giving

abundance of everything good for the

birth, fountain of pity, fountain of salvation

spirit and the body.37

and grace, fountain of piety and joy, fountain of consolation and kindness, through

Th e words of this praye r would amplify

that holy, unutterabl e joy with which yo ur

the significanc e of a painted image to

spirit re joiced in that hour wh en the Son

which those words could be applied appro-

of Goel was announced to yo u by the

priately. In this way, the words \~1ould lead

archangel Gabriel and was conceived .. . .

to an expanded emotional encounter with

Corne and hasten to m y aid and co unsel,

the d epi cted p ersonages. As with th e

in all m y praye rs and requ es ts, in all my

"Obsecro Te," the words of "O Intem erata "

diffic ulties and n eeds, and in all those

are equ ally appropriate and evocative . In

this prayer, th e worshiper would read , h ea r,

the late Middle Ages to th e Counter

or recite:

Reformation underwent complex changes and d evelopments. In Spain, these changes

0 Immac ulate Virgin, bl essed for eternity,

were esp ecially pronounced and can b e

uniqu e and without equal, Virgin M other

trac ed through the stylistic evolution of its

of God, Mary, Temple of God, most full of

religiou s art and its spiritual lite rature . Both

grace, Gate to th e Kingdom of H eave n ,

art and letters changed , at the turn of the

Sanctuary of the H oly Spirit, yo u through

sixteenth century, from a severe Stoicism to

vvhom, after God himself, the whole wo rld

a softer, more lyrical mode. This change

lives, turn th e ears of yo ur piety toward

accompanied the h egemonic inc ursion of

my unworthy prayers and be kind to me,

the Roman Church into Spain . Under th e

a sinn er, and be a h elper in all things.

guidance of th e Roman Church, Spanish

Amen. 38

worshipers continued to seek spiritual fulfillm ent through praye r, m editation; and

When Morales's Virgin and Child is

the commission of wo rks of religious art.

viewed as the \Vorcls of these traditional ,

But, as the cultures of Spain and Italy

composed praye rs are recited, their match-

b egan a n ew alliance, the interaction be-

ing lyricism creates a tone of tenderness that

tween these two groups became the catalyst

directly connects the wo rshiper to the

for the creation of new mod es of expression

Virgin, as th e source of love, piety, charity,

for the universal n eed to understand the

and maternal devotion . H er interaction with

path to Goel.

her Child, as represented in Morales's painting, underscores the persona constructed by the words of th e prayer of M ary as th e loving mother. Morales's ch aracte rization is a differ ent type of representation of the holy p ersonages than that found in th e work of Gallego and Berme jo. This differen ce is the result of a more accessible beauty and is a choice away from Gerson's dictum against superficial beauty and towards the d ecorative beau ty it frown ed upon . Beca use Morales's paintings belong to Spain's postRoman stage, they refl ect more traditional, uniform, and universal (beca use of their idealized b eauty) forms of spirituality insti tu tecl by the Vatican in Spain. For the n ew spiritual climate, idealized b eau ty in art provided the parallel complement.

Images and devotional exercises from

43

1. Sixte n Ringbom , Icon to Tarrative: The Rise of the Dramatic Close-Up in Fifteenth-Century Devotional Painting (Doornspijk, Th e Netherlands, 1984), 11-12,

11. For a discussion of Aristotl e, see G. Scavizz i, "La teolog ia ca ttoli ca e le immagin e clurante el A.'VI secolo," Storia dell'arte 21 (1974): 175-76.

and ibid. , "D evotional Images and Imaginative Devotions: Notes on th e Place of Art in Late M edi eval Private Pi ety," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 73 (1969):

12. Duranclus, Rationale, bk. 1, chap. 3, 1- 4, in Rationale clivinorum officion.1111 (L yo n s, 1612).

159-70.

13. Ringbom , "D evotional Images," 165.

2. Sa int Gregory the Great, "L ette r to Secunclinus," Ep. 9, 52. Ringbom , Icon to Narrative, 12.

14. On Fernando Gallego, see Juan Antonio Caya ufio, Fernando Gallego (Madrid, 1958); Robert McLean Quinn, Fernando Gallego and the Retablo of Ciudacl Rodrigo (Tucson , 1961 ); and Felipe Fe rre ro Felipe, Vici situdes de el mayor retablo espafzol clef siglo XV (Zamora , 1975). On Bartolome Be rmejo, see Judith Be rg-Sobre, Bartolome de Cardenas "El Bennejo" (Itinerant Painter in the Crown of Aragon) (Beth esda , 1998).

3. Pse udo-Dion ys us, "D e Eccl. Hi e r.," l: 2. Ringbom , "Devotional Images," 162.

4 . Ringbom , Icon to Narrative, 15.

5. Saint Augustin e, De Genesi ad litteram , bk. 12, chap. 1-30. For a discu ss ion , see \IV. R. Inge, Christian Mysticism (London , 1933), 201, and Ringbom , "D evotional Images," 162. Augu stine also ranked th e vision of th e imagination , or images of fantasy, into three types corresponding to the ca tegories of corporeal, spiritual , and intellec tual vision.

6. Saint Be rnard , "Cantica," 20: 6. See Dom. C. Butle r, Western M ysticism (London , 1951 ), 11 8.

15. On this move ment, see B. R. Post, The Modem Devotion: Confrontation with Reformation and Humanism (L eyde n , 1968).

16. For th e full text of thi s poem , see Julio RoclrfguezPuertolas, Fray Inigo L6fJez de Mendoza "Cancionero" (M adrid , 1968), 215-22 .

7. Ringbom , "Devotional Images," 163.

17. D avid Rubio, The Mystic Soul of Spain ( ew York, 1946), 2.

8. Ibid ., 166.

18. Ibid ., 14.

9. Ibid ., 163. These stages were d escribed in th e ea rl y fourteenth-century Tochter Syon, a guide to praye r and

19. On Spanish m ysticism, see E. Allison Peers, Spanish Mysticism (New York, 1925); Rubio; Jose M .

Gallegos Rocafull , La Experiencia de Di6s (M ad rid , 1963); Ciriaco Moro n Arroyo, La M fstica Espafi.ola (Madrid , 1971); a nd Vic tor Stoichita, Visionary Experience in the Golden Age of Spanish Art (London , 1995).

spiritual developme nt.

10. Thomas Aquinas, "Comm e ntarium super libros sententiarum : Cornmentum in librum III," dist. 9, art.

2, gu. 2. Quoted by Freed berg from a recen sion of the fifteenth-century editions in th e British Library; see David Freeclberg, "Th e Hidden Goel: Image and Inte rdic tion in th e Netherlands in th e Sixteenth Century," Art History 42 (1982): 13 3-53, 149, n . 53.

See also G. Ladn er, "D er bilcl erstreit uncl die KunstLehre n cl er byza ntinisch e n uncl aberlanclischen Theolog ie," Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte 50 (1931): 19.

44

20. Arroyo, 77.

21. Ibid ., 63, 203- 5.

22. Peers, 66-7 1.

23. Ibid ., 71.

2-+. Fray Juan de los Angeles, "Dfalogos," no. 9, sec. 1, in Rocafull , 34.

25. Ibid ., "Dialogos," no. 10, sec. -+, in Rocafull, xxx.

26. See Evelyn Underhill , Mysticism: A Study in the Nat11re and Development of Man's Spiritual Conscio11sness (New York, 1911 ).

27. Rocafull , 185-2 15.

28. See Victor G. cle la Concha, El Arte literario de Santa Teresa (Barcelona, 1978); Elizabeth Teresa Howe, Mystical Imagery: Santa Teresa de Jesus and San Juan de la Cruz (New York, 1987); An cl res Rafael Lueva no, Endless Trcmsfonning Love: An Interpretation of the Mystical Doctrine of Saint John of the Cross according to the So11l's Affective Relation and Dynamic Structures (Rome, 1990); Jose Luis Aranguren, Avila de Santa Teresa de Jesus y de San Juan de la Cru;: (Barcelona, 1993 ); Em ilio Orozco Dfaz, Estudios sabre San f11an de la Cruz y la mistica del barroco (G ranada , 1994).

34. On this manuscript, see El isa Bermejo Martinez, "Libro cle Horas cle Alonso cle ZC1fiiga,'' Archivo Espafiol de Arte 30 (1957): 1-20, and Lynette M. F. Bosch , "Manuscript Illumination in Toledo (1446-1495): The Liturgical Books" (Ph.D. cliss., Princeton University, 1985), passim .

35. For background on Books of Hours, see Roger Wieck, Time Sanctified: The Book of Ho11rs in Medieval Art and Life ( ew York, 1988).

36. The text of the "O Intemera ta" and the "Obsecro Te" are taken from ibid .

37. Ibid ., 153-54.

38. Ibid ., 164.

29. San Juan cle la Cruz, El Cantico espirit11al (Madrid, 1962), 9. The Collected Works of Saint John of the Cross, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (New York, 1964), 416.

30. Santa Teresa cle Jesus, "Las Moraclas,'' Libro de S11 Vida (Mexico City, 1972), chap. 29, 238. The ComfJlete Worl?s of Saint Teresa of!eS11s, trans. P. Silverio cle Santa Teresa and eel. E. Allison Peers, 3 vols. ( ew York, 1946), 1: 192-93, from the life of the Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus.

31. Elisa Bermejo Martinez, introduction to La Pint11ra de los primitivos fl.amencos en Esparza (Madrid, 1980).

32. See Ingjalcl Backsbacka, L11is de Morales (Helsinki, 1962) for a discussion of the oeuvre.

33. See Lynette M. F. Bosch, "The Archbishops of Toledo an d Their Monarchs: Politics in F ifteenthCen tury Castilla,'' chap. 2 in Devotion and Fantasy in Renaissance SfJain: Art, Lit11rgy and Politics (1446- 1495) (University Park, Penn., forthcoming).

45

EL GR ECO'S ALT A RPI ECES FO R THE CHAP EL OF SAI NT JOS E PH: D EVOT ION , POLITI CS, AN D ARTISTI C I N CO UNTE R-R EFO RMATIO

I

I

OVATION

TOL E DO

Richard G . Mann San Fran c i sco Stat e University

E l Greco was the quintessential Counter-

fr equ ently maintained that the spiritual glo-

Reformation artist. His altarpieces eloqu ently fulfill ed th e requirem ents and

ries of their city entitled it to a prominent position in the affairs of this world. Their

expectations of his ecclesiastical patrons,

emphasis on the religious h eritage of

who zealously impl em ented the dictates

Toledo constitutes an understandable reac-

of the Council of Trent in Toledo . The ensembl e of paintings that h e created for

tion to the city's loss of political and eco-

the Chapel of Saint Joseph demonstrates

Madrid in 1561 as th e permanent capital

his skill in visualizing essential doctrines

of Spain. 2 Pedro Salazar de M endoza,

in innova tive and dazzling ways.

I-IO\vever, n eith er th e paintings nor th e

Francisco de Pisa, and other Tol edan authors consistently described their city as

institution ca n b e an alyzed simply in terms

the New Jerusalem, chosen by God to lead

of Trid entine id eals. Th e patrons con ceived

the fight of the entire Catholic Church

the ch ap el as a m eans to attain ea rthly pres-

against h eresies of all sorts.3 They defended

tige and political influ en ce, as well as h eav-

and elaborated this assertion by n arrating

enly salvation. An acco unt publish ed by a

the supposed settlem ent of the city by the

direct descendant of th e ch apel's founder

lost tribes of Israel. 4 Further, they m ain-

indicates that th e patrons full y appreciated

tain ed that Toledo was on e of the first cities

th e relevan ce of El Greco's works to both

in Europe to h ave been converted to

th e sp iritual and worldly goals of th e insti-

C hristianity. 5

tution.1 U nd oubtedly, th e artist's ability to

nomic importan ce after the appointment of

According to these writers, many fac tors

create works that fun cti on ed simultan e-

justified th e city's responsibility and author-

ously on different levels contributed to his

ity to lead th e reform movement \Vithin the

su ccess in a city in which ea rthly prestige

Catholic C hurch . For instan ce, it was

was align ed almost exclusively with reli-

claimed that the archbish ops of Toledo h ad

gious zeal.

In the late sixteenth century, Toledans

never made an y h eretical state m ents and h ad never committed any maj or sins.6 The

va rious C hurch Councils, con ven ed in

E l G reco, ch aracterized the religiou s power

Toled o during the Middl e Ages, were

of pain tings in this passage:

thought to h ave formul ated doctrines of significan ce to th e entire C hurch and to h ave

Las pinturas son un mu y fu e rte argu-

dem onstrated th e type of lead ership n eed ed

m e ntacion y m ayo r, qu e el qu e se to m a

in the Counter-Reform ation era .7 Although

d e la esc ritura, si va n con fo rmes con la

it involved limited, m ainly cere m onial,

tradicion , y con las historias. Porqu e la

privil eges, the design a tion of Tol edo as

pintura mueve y leva nta m as el espiritu

Primacy of Spain was believed to h ave con-

qu e la esc ritura .... Lo qu e sabe m os por

fe rred a uthority to it over th e government of

la escritura lo sab em us, com o d e oyclas,

church es through out th e Spanish E mpire. s

esto m e rece me n os , qu e la pintura, qu e

Although the archbishop of Toledo h ad

le pon e d elante los o jos. 路 10

been appointed the Prim ate of Spain by Pope U rban II in 1088, it was widely h eld in

Bernardino Sandova l discu ssed th e reli-

the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that

gious fun ctions of the visu al arts in his

this honor h ad been granted by eith er Saint Jam es th e G reater or Saint Paul. In this

Tratado del offi cio ecclesiastico canonico de Toledo (Treatise on the C anonical

context, it is n ot surprising that Toledan

Ec cl esiastic Office in Toledo), which

ec cl esiastics b elieved that they h ad a special

explained the p rogram of th e Toledan

obligation to ensure that the requirem ents

Cathedral for realizing Tridentine reforms

of the Council of T rent were fulfill ed in

in the city. 11 As maestrecuela (schoolmaster)

their city. Thus, Cardinal Gaspar d e

of Toled o Cathedral, Sandoval was the

Quiroga, archbish op of Toledo from 1577 to

chief administrator fo r all the educati on al

1594, m aintained that his status as Primate

program s fo r children and young people.

of Spain required him to p ublish th e consti-

Although intended fo r th e adult lay public,

tuti on s of hi s archdiocese in order to p ro-

the treatise is organized with the logic and

vide a guid e fo r the reform of church es

directness of a series of sch ool lesson s.

th ro ughout the Spanish Catholic

world .9

Toledan ecclesiastics also recognized the

Sand oval's clear, vivid style of writing would h ave m ade the text accessible to all literate

important contributions that the visual a rts

Spanish Catholics. His comments h elp u s

could m ake to th e Counter Reformation .

to u n d erstand the ideas about religious

For insta n ce, Salaza r de M endoza, a dis-

reform and the visu al arts prevailing in

tingui sh ed d octor in can on law and the

To ledan ecclesiastical circles in the years

adm inistrator of an important ecclesiasti cal

im m ediately preceding E l G reco's arrival

fo undation , as well as a pa tron fri e nd of

in th e city in 1576.

*"Pa in tings provid e ve ry powe rful p e rsuas io n , g reate r th an tha t whi c h is taken from writin g, as long as th ey accord wi th tradition and historical acco u nts. Be ca use p ain ting sti rs a n d eleva tes the sp irit m o re than writing . ... W hat we kn ow from wri ting, we kn ow, as th o ugh by h ea rsay, an d thi s is worth less tha n painting, whi ch p u ts it b efo re o ur eyes."

47

Many of Sandoval's statem e nts on the

by patrons, th ey we re only sup erficially

visu al art closely followed the Council of

imitated by m ost Spanish painter . 15

Trent. 12 For instance, h e recommend ed that narrative scenes be prominently installed in

I suspect that Sandoval was concerned about th e aesthetic require m ents of altar-

churches, in ord e r to instruct illiterate p eo-

pi eces because h e foun d that there was

ple about the lives of Christ, Mary, and the

much n eed for reform in the visual arts in

saints. Moreover, display of religious paint-

Toledo. This theory is supported by th e

ings would help all the faithful to rem ember

examination of su ch paintings as Death of

the essential articles of faith and \~rould

the Virgin (c. 15 50, created for Toledo

encourage them to m editate on holy sub-

Cathedral ; now in the Museo d el Prado ,

jects. In addition, h e maintained that altar-

M adrid), by Ju an C orrea d e Vivar, one of

pieces could intensify worshipers' love of

the most prominent artists active in the city

God and even inspire the m to imitate th e

at mid-century. 16 The narrati ve of C orrea's

h eroic sacrifices of martyrs. Also, in accord

altarpiece is clear, but th e stereotyped and

with the Council of Trent, Sandoval dis-

unconvincing fa cial expressions and ges-

cussed the potential dangers of doctrinally

tures d eprive the scen e of e motional forc e .

inaccurate images and the n eed for cl ergy to

Twisted poses and curvilinear drapery folds

supe rvise the decoration of church es .

su ggest an attempt to im itate the Italian

The Council of Trent entirely ignored

Ren aissan ce style, but it is diffic ult to imag-

the aesth etic m erits of altarpieces. However,

ine that Sandoval wo uld h ave desc ribed

in a brief but very provocative state m ent,

Correa's anatomically incorrect and awk-

Sandoval argu ed that altarpieces n eed ed to

ward fi gures as "elegant."

b e painted elegantly in order to b e spiritu-

The iconography of Correa's painting is

ally effective. 13 A concern for th e inte rac-

as unoriginal as the style. The foreground

tion b etween spiritu al and aestheti c m atters

scen e of the apostles surrounding the

also can b e found in th e writings of Salazar,

d eathbed of the Virgin could have been

who maintained that the b eauty and

copied from M artin Sch ongau er's fam ous

refin e m ent of the Tol edan variation of the

engraving of this subj ect, created nearl y 100

Castilian language made it the most appro-

years before.17 G iven the traditional C atholi c

priate m eans for th e verbal expression of

b elief that death is caused only by sin, the

religious ideas.H Unfortunately, Sandoval

growing ven eration of the Virgin's absolute

did not defin e the qualities that would contribute to visu al elegan ce. However, in the

perfection m ade the representation of h er d eath increasingly problem atic .18 Therefore,

context of late sixteenth-century Spain, it

by 1550, through out Catholic E urope, the

se ems probable tha t h e was intending to

deathbed scen e h ad been largely replaced by

en courage the creation of works in th e

the Assumption, shown by C orrea on a small

Italian Renaissan ce style, rathe r than the

scale in the background window.

m ore severe, less graceful Spanish rend e r-

In compa rison with Correa's painting,

ing. Although th e achievem ents of th e

th e AssumfJtion of the Vi rgin (fig. 1), which

Italian Ren aissan ce were greatly admired

El Greco exec uted sh ortly after his arrival

in Toled o in 1576, was th oroughly "up to date" b oth in te rms of style and icon ography.19 It often bas b een suggested that El Greco based this painting direc tly on Titian ' famou s altarpi ece (151 6-18) in th e Santa M aria clei Frari, Venice, 20 which establish ed the modern iconography of the Assumption. However, th ere are several notable differen ces between th e paintings.

For exampl e, E l Greco greatly increased the scale of the figures and compacted th em closely togethe r. Underneath the feet of the Virgin, h e added a c rescent moon, the primary symbol of the Immac ul ate Conception of the Virgin, a belief increasing rapidly in popularity in Spain in the second half of the sixteenth century.

Toleclan eccl esiastics vvere sure to h ave been impressed by th e artist's m astery of the

F ig. 1. El C reco, The Asswn fJtion of the

principl es of the Italian Renaissan ce style.

Virg in, 1577, oil on canvas, 40 1.4 x 228.7

His figur es are both anatomi cally correct

cm. T he Art Institute of Ch icago, G ift of

and elegantly posed. The Virgin Mary and Saint John a re among th e figures shown in

ancy Atwood Sprague in memory of Albert Arn old Sprague, 1906.99.

the serpentine pose, consid ered a significant d emonstrati on of artisti c skill by Renaissan ce art theorists. Th e bright colors and th e va ried textures of the boldly appli ed paint, directly inspired by the work of Ve n etian artists, contribute to the impact of the altarpiece . Inventi ven ess is revealed by su ch featur es as the simultan eous expansion and compress ion of space .

El Greco clearl y fulfill ed the n eed of Tol eda n ecclesiasti cs fo r a painte r capable of creating aesthe tically effecti ve a nd d octrinally acc urate altarpi eces. Th erefo re, from the time of his a rri val in Toledo in

1576 until his d eath in 1614, h e was esteem ed as the leading painte r in the city.

Among his many com m iss ions, th e ensemble of altarpi eces that h e crea ted for the C h apel of Saint Joseph b eh veen 1597 and 1599 h as always b een recognized as on e of his m ost impressive achieve m ents. N evertheless, th ese works for the ch ap el h ave received mu ch less attention fr om scholars tha n his othe r m a jor pictorial program s. 21 In pa rt, this is clue to the circ umstance that the chapel is a private fo undation closed to the gen eral public.

The C h ap el of Saint Joseph is to tally independ ent of an y othe r religious ins titution. It is a fun e ra ry ch ap el, d edica ted 49

primarily to th e continu ous celebration of

accepted the inscription as proof that the

masses in honor of the Ramfrez family, who v,1ere wealthy m e rch ants. 22 The ch ap el was

ch apel was among the first d edicated to Joseph. 26 However, church es were named

consecrated in 1594 and endQ\;<,1ed by a

for him at least as early as 1129 when a

papal indulgence of 1598 with privileges normally give n only to parish and con vent

church dedicated to him was consec rated in Bologna, Italy.27 Certainly, the patrons must

churches, including authorization to dis-

have b ee n aware of the many Spanish

play the Host on the altar at all times and to celebrate mass every day.23 These privileges

Carmelite churches d edicated to Joseph,

are so extraordinary that ecclesiastical

founded earli er in the sixteenth century by Saint Teresa of Avila. 28 Whatever its exact

authorities in Spain and the Vatican needed

meaning, the inscription is interesting

fifte e n years to analyze the petitions of the

b ecau se it reveals the family's concern with

Ramfrez family for th em. This time fram e

the preeminen ce of the foundation .

accords with the d eclaration of the Council

The fam ily claimed th at the Chapel of

of Trent that exceptional rights were to be

Saint Joseph fulfill ed the intentions of

granted to private foundations only after

Martin Ramfrez, a businessman who di ed a

extensive consideration of the moral worthi-

childless ba ch elor on October 31, 1568-

n ess of th e parties involved and of the gen-

more than hventy-five yea rs b efore its conse-

eros ity of their finan cial arrangements. 24

cration. 29 However, Martin Ramfrez had

In the mid-seventeenth century, the

actually intend ed that his estate be given to

Ramfrez family claimed that the dedi cation

Saint Teresa of Avila, so that sh e could

of the chapel to Saint Joseph made it

establish a convent of Carmelite nuns in

unique in the entire Spanish empire. 25

Toledo. 30 Shortly after Martin Ramfrez's

Moreover, the inscription above the main

death, his brother Alonso Alvarez Ramfrez

doorway asserts that th e ch apel was th e pre-

call ed Saint Teresa to Toledo to found the

eminent foundation consecrated to him :

con vent, but h er other commitments prevented h er from reaching the city before

BIS GENITI TUTOR JOSEPH CO JUXQUE

March 24, 1569. Alvarez, old and feeble

PARENTIS HAS AEDES HABITAT PRIMAQUE

himself, entrusted his son-in-law, Diego

TEMPLA TE1 ET.

Ortiz, with the task of negotiating with h er.

The founding of the con vent proved to

This reference to th e foundation as the

be a long, very difficult process . Saint

"first" d edicated to Joseph may be intended

Teresa maintained that the history of the

to suggest that it was chronologica lly th e

institution demonstrated that the realiza-

ea rliest church n amed for him or simply

tion of God's plans entailed many trials and

that it was the institution that honored him

surprises for the faithful.3 1 She also stated

most fully. Many art historians h ave

that sh e h ad learned from this experi ence

*"Joseph , earthl y Guardian of the Son of Goel and the Husband of his Mother, li ves in this house and has in it his first church."

50

not to rely on the finan cial support of

grandparents h ad been "recon ciled" by the

anyone outside the Carmeli te order. 32

Inquisition after admitting Jewish religious

Although the nun see m s to have admired

practices.37 Anti-Semitism was a severe

Alvarez, sh e found Ortiz to be stubborn ,

problem in Toledo at this time, and in fact,

unreason abl e, and unintelligent. 33 After h e r

the statutes of the Toledan archdiocese pre-

arrival in the city, th e founding of the con-

vented an yone with Jewish ancestors from

vent was d elayed by Ortiz's insistenc e that

unde rtaking a career in th e Church. 38

h e would give Saint Teresa access to the

Following the breakdovm of n egotiations

fund s from his uncle's estate only if sh e

between Ortiz and Saint Teresa, th e gover-

would agree to a wide ran ge of conditions

nor of the archbishopric waived the u su al

that sh e found unacceptable. \iVithout

financial re quirem ents and granted th e nun

funding, sh e was not abl e to get a licen se

a lic ense for the convent on May 8, 1569. 39

for the convent from th e Chapter of Toledo

The reason s for th e governor's sudden

Cathedral, which h ad b een entru sted with

change of policy a re not recorded, but the

managing the affairs of th e archdiocese. H

termination of h er association with the

Ironically, her efforts to get approval for

Ramfrez family seems the most likely

founding the convent were complicated by

explanation. On May 9, a stud ent n amed

the fund s being d erived from th e Ramfrez

Andrada, from a middle-class family with-

family. The account of the family published

out social pretensions, unexpectedly gave

by Brother Alonso de Z ayas in 1662 asserted

Saint Teresa virtually all his available

that Martin Ramfrez and all his rela tives

money in order to en able h er to obtain

enjoyed the universal respect and esteem of

housing for the Carmelite nuns .+O

their conte mpora ries and insisted that the

Politically, Andrada's support was accept-

family was an "old Christian" one, with a

able to the old aristocratic families beca use

lineage including many knights who h ad

h e m ade no claims to be considered one of

fought valiantly for the Spanish crown dur-

them. With his gift, the nun leased a small

ing th e reconqu est of th e peninsula. 35 The

house fo r th e convent, which vvas d edicated

actual situation of the Ramfrez family in

to Saint Joseph on May 14, 15 69. This is

th e late sixteenth century was very different

the first tim e that Joseph 's n am e was m en-

from that implied b y Zayas's acco unt. The

tioned in connection ,,vith the proj ect, and

politically powerful "old C hristi an " aristo-

it seems certain that the d esignation origi-

crati c families of Toledo d etested th e

n ated ,,vith Saint Teresa, wh o considered

Ramfrez family, wh om th ey regard ed as

Joseph h er special patron.

crass merchants, trying to buy prestige

Saint Teresa's stam in a to fo und an d

through lavish sp endin g. 36 The family's

e n courage th e survival of th e convent

prid e in its many su ccessfu l co mm ercial

earned h er the admiration of Toledo.

ventures clashed with the aristocra ts' dis-

Within a year, sh e had many offers of addi-

dain for work.

ti onal support, including from Alvarez and

1oreover, the Ramfrez fam-

ily was also widely believed to h ave had

Ortiz. She decided to give the fam ily

Jewish a n cestors. In 1485, Martin Ramfrez's

another ch an ce to fulfill M artin Ramfrez's

51

intentions, partly beca use the wid espread

and ch aracteristi cs of m asses may seem

pre judice again t them evoked h er sympa-

p etty today, but they are understandable in

thies .41 Thus, Saint Teresa accepted money from Alvarez to buy a large and prestigious

light of th e pronounce m ents of Triclentine writers. Sandoval, for instan ce, emphasized

house, where the convent moved on

that th e numb er and qu ality of m asses

M ay 27, 15 70.

could h ave a cru cial impact on one's chances for salvation. 46

Saint Teresa must have regretted h er acquiescen ce to Alvarez's entreaties .

By the mid-seventeenth century, the

Immediately after the convent moved to the

famil y insisted that th e disputes \Vith Saint

n ew site, sh e and Ortiz resumed their dis-

Teresa h ad b een unfortunate, but minor,

putes, which continued until th e encl of h er

misunderstandings and claimed that th ey h ad always h eld h er in the greatest estee m ;

life . By January 15 75, their interactions h ad become so tense that Ortiz refused to m eet with h er in p erson. 42 Later in the sam e year,

after h er canonization in 1625, the famil y

Saint Teresa wrote to Ortiz that in dealing with him, sh e found it n ecessary to keep in

taining a piece of fl esh , supposedly from h er body.47 In addition, the room that sh e

mind that h e \Vas the "hijo de Adan" (son of

had occ upied in th e adjacent house was

Adam ), undoubtedly an allusion to the consequen ces of original sin .43 In two letters of

preserved as a shrine. The walls of the room were covered with blood sh ed in penitential

1578, sh e advised the mother sup erior of

whippings, first by Saint Teresa and later

the convent in Tol edo to b e steadfast

by D octor Martin Ramirez de Zayas

despite the emotional strain caused by

(15 61-1 625 ), the son of Di ego Ortiz.48

placed on th e main altar a reliquary con-

interactions with Ortiz. 44 Teresa's letters to Ortiz indicate that h e

saint's m emory, the seriousness of the quar-

complained about all kinds of things but

rels with h er cannot b e denied. These dis-

that h e was concerned especially about the

putes probably explain wh y the Carm elites

provisions for masses in m emory of his fa mily.45 H e was rigorous in trying to insure that

n ever bega n to build a fun erary ch apel,

in every single detail, the convent would

within ten years. Saint Teresa m anaged to

contribute to the dignity of his famil y and

retain access to the funds of the estate of

to its eternal salvation. For exa mpl e, h e insisted that se rvices be h eld continuously

M artin Ramfrez . However, in 1583, the year after h er death, th e famil y h ad the

throughout the clay and night and that

Carmelite nuns officially exp elled from

every m ass at the convent b e dedi cated to

their property and prevented th em fr om

the Ramfrez fa mily. Moreover, h e dem anded that th e nuns sing, rath er than recite,

obtaining any additional funds from the estate of M artin Ramfrez, b ecause th e bur-

m asses, maintaining that sung services

ial ch apel h ad n ot yet been built. In 1587, a

would be more pl easing to God and , th ere-

legal suit aga inst the nuns was fin ally settled

fo re, m ore su ccessful in pro m oting salva-

in favo r of the Ramfrez fa mily, and in 1588,

tion. His arguments about the fr equ en cy

the papal nuncio gave the famil y permission

52

D espite the posthumous tributes to the

which th ey had promised to complete

to tea r down th e church b egun by th e nuns

h e was second in effectiven ess only to the

and to erect a n ew chapel on th property.-+9

Virgin Mary as a m ediator between sinners

The existing stru cture, design ed by icolas de Ve rgara the Younger, was erected

and God.5 2 For example, Isidro de Isolanus,

between 1591 and 1594; d ecoration of the

the role ofJoseph as an intercessor; his

interior was not finish ed until 1599. 50

highly influential Summa de donis S. Joseph

Instead of fulfilling M artin Ramfrez's

a Dominican friar, wrote at length about

(Summation of th e Gifts of Saint Joseph )

directive that his estate b e used to fund a

was first publish ed in 15 22 and was

Carmelite convent, Ortiz establish ed a

reprinted in many languages through out

uniqu e institution d evoted primarily to the

the sixteenth century.53 In a Re naissance

celebration of masses in memory of mem-

vision of spiritual n etworking, Isolanus

bers of his family. During th e seventeenth

characterized Joseph as occupying a

century, the chapel employed twelve full-

uniqu e position in the heavens, pe rmitting

time chaplains and two choirmasters in

him to obtain exceptional benefits for

order to insure that masses could b e cele-

th e faithful.

brated continuously throughout the day

According to Isolanus, Joseph had been

and night. In addition, th e foundation sup-

resurrected in both body and soul so that he

ported fifteen impoverish ed m en , each of

could sit n ext to Christ, along with the Virgin Mary. 54 Thus, Joseph could appeal

whom was expected to attend seve ral m asses p e r day.51 Considering Ortiz's concern with glorify-

directly to Christ, who rem ained indebted to his childhood guardian and appreciated

ing th e m emory of his family, it may seem

his exceptional wisdom. In addition, Joseph

surprising that h e did not h ave the fun erary

could co unt on th e h elp of Mary, who

chap el d edicated to Martin, the nam e sa int

would fulfill joyfull y the obligation to obey

of the original founder. However, by retain-

h er spouse. Further, Isola nus emphasized

ing Teresa's d edication for th e convent, h e

that Joseph v,rould make sure that special

managed to suggest a logical continuity for

h eavenly rewards were given to those who

th e foundation. In addition, Joseph was an

offered prayers at altars d edi cated to him

appropriate choice to honor the memory of

and especially to th ose who promoted his

Martin Ramfrez, the childless bachelor vvho

cult by building churches in his honor. 55

had wanted to d evote his wealth to the

Yet anoth er motivation for d edi cating

Church . Beca use the dedication to Joseph

th e ch apel to Joseph is suggested by the

did not explicitly h onor one person, it also

discu ss ion of the sa int in Flos Sanctorum ,

allowed the Ramfrez family to display

a popular "Lives of the Saints," written by

humility, a much-esteemed virtu e that th ey

Alonso d e Villegas, a prebendary at Tol edo

do not seem to h ave possessed in abundance.

Cathedral.5 6 El Greco own ed a copy of the

Thus far, schola rs h ave ove rl ooked the

Flos, 57 first published in fi ve volumes in

relevance of Joseph to the funerary pur-

Toledo behveen 1578 and 1589 and subse-

poses of the ch apel. The sixteenth-century

quently reprinted in many editions. In

proponents ofJoseph's cult maintained that

contrast to Isolanus, who m aintained that

53

Joseph's d edi ca ti on to m anual lab or h elped to establish poverty as an important virtu e, 58 Villegas strongly argu ed that Jesus's earthly guardian co uld n ot h ave been a humble carp ente r at th e time of his betrothal to th e Virgin . \t\Thil e acknowledging th at Joseph might h ave b een a craftsm an earl y in his ca reer, Villegas insisted that h e had "worked his way up" to b ecom e the director of a la rge construction business by th en . 59 According to Villegas, only a su ccessful entrepre n e ur would h ave b een able to provid e M ary and th e Child with the level of comfort a nd security that they m erited . H e furth er argu ed that Joseph's example sh ould inspire aristocrats to realize the fooli shness of their n egative attitudes ab out business and to u se th eir resources to create enter-

Fig. 2. Portrait of Doc tor Ma rtin Ramirez de

prises that could stimulate the d epressed

Zayas (e ngraving). Cover of Bro th er Alonso

Spanish economy. Villegas furth er linked

de Zayas, Vida y virtudes del venerable siervo

capitalism \Vith Joseph 's cult by suggesting

de D ios ... Doctor martin Ramirez de Zayas

that Spanish nobles h ad discouraged the

(Madrid, 1662 ). (Ph otogra ph reprodu ced by

ven eration of him because of their disdain

courtesy of th e Biblioteca

acional, Madrid .)

fo r an y typ e of comme rcial endeavor. His interpretation ofJ oseph as a saint who dig-

appointed professo r of theology at th e

nified their way of life must h ave strongly

University of Saint Catherin e in Toledo,

appealed to th e Ramirez fa mily, so vilified

and h e also served as the director of the

by the powerful old families.

C h ap el of Saint Joseph fr om 1588 until his d eath . His relatives m aintained that h e

t,:

* *

lived a life of exemplary au steri ty, and th ey tried u ns u ccessfully to obtain canoniza tion

Th e for egoing historical and religious info rm ation establish es th e context of th e

for him after his d eath in 1625 .60 T h e contract of 1 ovembe r 9, 1597,

altarpieces that E l Greco c reated for the

specifi ed that the two paintings of the ma in

ch ap el. Th e commission was give n to the

altar were to represent Saint Joseph and the

artist b y th e previously m e ntion ed son of

cover of th e biography of him publish ed in

Christ Child and the Coronation of the Virgin and th at on e of the side altarpieces sh ould depict M ary with Two Virgin Saints.6 1 According to th e contrac t, the

1662 (fi g. 2). In 1586, D octor Ramirez was

paintings and architectural elem e nts were

Ortiz, D octor M artin Ram irez d e Z ayas, wh o was d epicted in th e e ngraving on the

54

to b e compl eted by August 1598. However, installation was not compl eted until D ecember 13 , 1599, after Doctor Ramfrez agreed to pay the appraised value of 31,328 reales, which h e had originally protested as too high.62 El Greco's original paintings are still displayed above the main altar (see fig . 3), but those on the two sid e altars v,1ere sold in 1906 and replaced b y replicas. Originally, the brightly colored paintings in gilded fram es would have stood out vividly against the simple whitewash ed walls. In this respect, the interior would have been similar to that of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, for which El Greco painted a series of altarpieces between 1576 and 1579 .63 El Greco's simpl e classical retable for the main altar

Fig. 3. Main altar, 1597-1599. Chapel of

was modified in 161 3 without his participa-

Saint Joseph, Toledo. (Photograph repro-

tion. At that time, the prominent outer

duced by th e gracious courtesy of Institut

pilasters with their large statu es and brack-

Amatller cl'Art Hispanic, Barcelona. )

ets were added to the main level of the retable, and the curved pe diments with

tion ofJoseph's fi gure, th e striking shift in

sc ulpted cherubs were placed on either side of the attic story. 6-+ During the late seven-

scale between the foreground and background, th e glowing colors, and the varied

teenth and the eighteenth centuries, th e

textures of the lively brushwork .

vaults of th e chapel were covered with fres-

E l Greco's representation of Jos eph as

coes of the lives of Mary and Joseph, and

a h a ndsome, strong, yo ung man acco rds

numerou s statues and oil paintings were

with the assertions of the lea ding propo-

placed against the walls. 65

n e nts of his c ult. For instance , Isolanus

El Greco's altarpieces visualized the

m a inta ined that th e popular conception of

m eans of ete rnal salvation according to

Joseph as a n old m an was a misguid e d

Counter-Reformation doc trine: th e inter-

attempt to provid e a con vincing explana-

vention of sa ints, voluntary acts of ch arity,

tion for his ch astity; Isola nus a rgu e d

and the celebration of masses in honor of

instea d that Joseph 's sexu al abstinence

the d ead . Saint Joseph and the Christ Child

constitute d a h eroic action precisely

on th e main retable (fig. 4 ) is a stunning

b eca use of his attracti ve n ess, virility, a nd

exa mpl e of El G reco's mature style . Many

yo uth .66 Moreover, Joseph must h ave been

fac tors contribute to the dramatic effecti ve-

h an dsome in ord e r to be a worthy spouse

ness of this painting, including the elonga-

for the Virgin, and h e \VO uld have n eed ed

55

youthful vigor and phys ical stren gth to protect h r and th e Child .67 Although a few artists in th e fifteenth a nd sixteenth centuries c reated images that accorded vvith Isolanus's assertions, th e representation of Joseph as a vigorous young man did not b ecom e standard until the late seventee nth century.68 El Greco utilized both old er a nd n ewe r iconography in other paintings of Saint Joseph. For instan ce, while h e was working on th e ch ap el, h e d epi cted the saint as a young man in one painting of th e Holy Family with Saint Anne and the Infant BafJtist (now in th e Muse o d el Prado, M adrid ) and as an old man in anothe r conte mporary version of this subj ect ( Iational Galle ry of Art, Washington, DC ).69 In the painting above the ch apel altar,

Fig. 4. El G reco, Saint JosefJh and the Christ

Child, 1597- 1599, oil on ca nvas, 289 x 147

El Greco also depi cted the young Joseph

cm . C hapel of Sa int Joseph, Toledo.

walking with the Christ Child. Throughout

(Photograph reproduced by the grac ious

the fiftee nth and sixteenth centuri es, in

co urtesy of Institut Am a tiler cl 'Art Hi spanic,

c rud ely exec uted prints, paintings, and stat-

Barcelona.)

u es, the two h ad b een represented walking together. 70 T ypical of these images are a

its 1571 publication, M olanus concisely

h and-colored print of JosefJh Walhng with

d efin ed the appropriate iconography for a

the Child, produc ed in G erma n y early in

wid e range of sacred them es.7 2 H e desc rib ed

the sixteenth century, and a painted wood

Joseph walking with the Child as th e pre-

sculptural group of this subj ect, c reated for

fe rred way to represent the earthly guardian

the Conve nt of Discalced C armelites in

b ecause thi s scen e eloqu ently reveal ed

Granada in th e third quarter of the sixteenth

Jesu s's relianc e on him .7 3 In accord with

century. 71

earlie r proponents of Joseph's c ult, Molanus

Th e comme nts of Johannes Molanus

pointed out that the Child's d epende n ce on

suggest why th e subj ec t of Joseph and th e

his earthl y gu ardian provided the basis of

Child walking together was chosen for the

th e sa int's effectiven ess as an intercessor. 7-+

main altar of a fun erary ch apel. Writing in

Obviou sly, the subj ect of El Greco's

his De Historia SS. Im aginwn et Pictarum

painting is not n ew. What see m s to b e dis-

(On th e Hi story of H oly Statu es a nd

tinctive is th e depiction of this th e m e by a

Paintings), which was consulted widely by

leading arti st in a splendid, large-scale oil

artists and patrons in the decad es following

painting. Thus, his alta rpi ece forms a visual

equival en t to Vill egas's transformation of

that the honor Joseph received as th e

Joseph from a humble carpenter into a

spouse of the Queen of H eaven proved that

wealthy business exec utive. In this regard , it is interesting to note that in the Flos

noble status did not depend on the circumstances of one's birth or family name. 80

Sanctorwn , Vill egas compared Joseph's pro-

The name saint of Martfn Ramfrez was

tection of Jesus during th eir walks to a busi-

depicted in Saint Martin and the Beggar,

n essman's concern for his workers .7 5

originally on th e Gospel (or north ) side of th e chapel (fi g. 6). El Greco's Martin is an

El Greco introdu ced som e seemingly minor, but truly important, variations in the

elegant knight, clad in gold-damascened

establish ed iconography. For instan ce, h e

armor, which exemplifies the produ cts that

emphasized th e protective ca re ofJoseph by showing him with his arm around th e

made Toleclan metahvorkers famous throughout Europe. Through th e use of

Child, rath er than with the Child' h and in

very strong foreshortening, th e artist created

his, as most earlier artists had. By curving

the illusion that the h orse is proj ecting

his staff at the encl, imilar to a bish op's crozier, El Greco illustrated the theme of

directly out into th e viewer's space. The bright white of the horse and th e shining

Joseph as protector of th e Ch urch .76

gold of th e armor enhance this effect by

Hovering above Joseph is a dramatically

making both the horse and its rid er stand

foreshortened group of angels, who extend clown to him a laurel wreath and flowers -

out vividly from the background . E l Greco h as represented the most famou s incident

including lilies, his standard attribute, and roses, symbols of love associated with Mary.77 Josephine writers maintained that angels constantly celebrated his n am e and accompani ed him during every phase of his ea rthly existence.78 The placem ent of the Coronation of the Virgin (fig. 5) in the attic directly above

Saint Joseph and the Christ Child h elps to create the impression that the angels are descending from the h eavens to share some of the Virgin's glory with the earthl y gu ardian . The connec tion created between th e two scenes accords with the assertions of devoti onal writers, who m aintained that angels paid homage to Joseph beca use h e was the husband of the Queen of H eaven .79

Fig. 5. El G reco, Coronation of the Virgin,

Th e Ramfrez fam ily, which was so dis-

of Saint Joseph , Toledo. (Photograph reprodu ced

dained by the aristocra ts of Tol edo, must

by the gracious courtesy of Insti tut Arna tiler cl' Art

have been pleased by Vill egas's argument

Hi span ic, Barcelona.)

1597-1599, oil on canvas, 120 x 147 cm. C hapel

57

tary caree r in order to become a cle ri c.

In the context of th e chapel, this altarpiece alluded to the charity of M a rtin Ramfrez, whose tomb was located n exl lo it, on th e north sid e of the chapel. Ramfrez's gen erosity was d emonstrated by numerous b equests and other acts of charity, detail ed in the inscription on his sarcophagu s. 82 The emphasis on "good works" was in accord with the Council of Trent's strong reiteration of the traditional Catholic doctrine that the faithful should work for their own salvation by performing acts of charity.83 The family's provisions for the poor includ ed the directive that funds from Ramfrez's estate were to be u sed to feed, clothe, and house th e fifteen impoverish ed m en who, in exch ange, were required to attend the services h eld at the chapel throughout th e clay and night. 8-+ The patrons d escribed this obligation as a grea t privilege because Fig. 6. E l G reco, Saint Martin and the

m embers of th e gen eral public normally

Beggar, 1597-1599, oil on canvas, wooden

could gain admission to the chapel only on

strip ad ded at the bottom, 193.5 x 103 cm. ;

major feas t clays.

wood e n strip 4.6 x 10 3 cm. T h e

ationa l

El Greco related Saint Martin and the

Coll ec ti on , 1942/9.25 (62 1). (Photograph

Beggar to the scen e of Saint Joseph and the Christ Child on the main altar in several

copyright by th e Trustees of th e

ways. In both paintings, the protago nists are

Ga ll ery of Art, Wa shin gton, D.C., Widener

ationa l

Gall ery of Art. All ri ghts rese rved. )

confined to a n arrow foreground ledge before a distant view of Toledo. Martin is

in th e legend of Martin, a fourth-century

elevated above th e b egga r, just as Joseph

saint.SI Martin was a Roman soldie r gu ard-

towe rs over th e Child. More importantly,

ing th e walls of Amiens, France, when h e

El Greco establish ed a dynamic physical

was approach ed by a n aked beggar. H e was

link between the two paintings. Joseph tilts

so moved by the b egga r's pleas that h e

his staff toward th e scene of Saint Martin as

sh ared with him his cloak, his only per-

if to direct th e Child's attention to th e in ci-

sonal possession. That night, C hrist

d ent in which h e will later b e involved as

announced to Martin in a dream that h e

the beggar. Photographs do not fully reveal

was th e beggar who h ad been clothed.

the arresting effectiveness of th e illusion of

Martin subsequ ently ren ounced his mili-

th e outward projection of the staff.

With his large eyes, the Christ Child stares in th other direction, as if looking fix edly at his Mother in the painting originally located above the altar on the Epistle (or south) sid e, The !Vladonna and Child

with Saint Martina (Thecla) and Saint Agnes (fi g. 7). Th e use of the Child's gaze to connect these tvvo paintings suggests the unity of th e Holy Family, a th em e emphasized by Josephine writers.85 The Madonna and Child are enthroned in th e h eavens, adored by two half-l ength figures of virgin martyr saints. Wh en the painting was placed directly above th e altar tabl e, th e martyr saints \Vould h ave appeared to b e standing directly b ehind it. Thus, the roles of these saints as intermediari es b etween the suppli cant at the altar and

1ary and

Christ would h ave b een visualized .

This altarpiece is in exceptionally good condition, and we still can appreciate full y the artist's brilliant, glowing colors and var-

F ig. 7. El G reco, The Madonna and C hild

ied brushwork. X-Radiographs reveal that El Greco mad e a number of very signifi cant

with Saint Ma rtina (Thecla) and Saint Agnes,

ch an ges in the lower part of th e composi-

at the bottom, 193.5 x 103 cm.; wooden strip

tion ( ee fig. 8) . H e had originally created a

4.6 x 103 cm. T he Na tional Gall ery of Art,

firm horizontal base for the composition by

Washington, D .C., Widener Collec ti on,

depicting th e sa int at th e left gazing directl y

1942/9.25 (622). (Photograph copyri ght by

across to h er companion. In the fin al paint-

th e Trustees of th e Ta ti onal Gall ery of Art.

ing, h e emphasized h er pl eas to th e Virgin

All righ ts reserved.)

by showing h er with an upturned h ead. The interwoven glan ces, gestures, and drapery

ch ap el indicate the nam es of the saints on

folds create a dyn amic zigzag pattern that

the lower level of the painting. However,

leads from the sa int on th e right to h er

sch olars h ave agreed that the figure on the

companion on the left and fin ally up to th e

right is Agn es, whose standard attribute is the lamb .86 Most recen t scholars identify

Virgin M ary. This organization through stro ngly pronounced diagonals, connecting h eavenly and earthly realms, is typical of El G reco's mature altarpieces. o documents associated with the

1597- 1599, oil on ca nvas, wooden strip add ed

the sa int on the left as M artina, wh ose attribute is a lion. 87 This identification seems logical b eca use th e n am e would commem orate the found er. Furthermore,

59

inventory, has n ever been located, we cannot b e sure it was related to th e altarpiece of the chapel. Moreove r, Thecla would be relevant to the fun erary purposes of the chapel. The mass to th e dead invokes h er salvation from the mouth of a lion as a demonstration of the grace that Goel extends to the souls of all faithful Christians,9 1 and in his account of the sa int, Villegas emphasized Thecla's commitm ent to the salvation of all th e faithful.9 2 Furthermore, the Church traditionally has considered Saint Thecla, Saint Agnes, and th e Virgin Mary to be the three principal defenders of bodily chastitywhich was widely recognize d as one of Joseph's chief virtues and which was also a quality emphasized in Martin Ramfrez's tomb inscription .93 More importantly, saints Thecla and Fig. 8. X-Radiograph of the head of Saint

Agnes together play a vital role in the leg-

Martina (Thecla ), at lowe r left of fi g. 7.

end of Saint Martin. Accompanied by these

(Photograph copyri ght by the Trustees of th e

two virgin martyrs, the Virgin Mary often visited Martin in his room. 94 During these

Na ti onal Gallery of Art. All rights reserved. )

appeara nc es, the Virgin is supposed to have the inventory made of El Greco's estate in

hovered on clouds above her companions.

1614 includ es "Una imagen con el nifio y

In the painting formerl y in the Chapel of

santa ines i sana martina" (an image [of the

Saint Joseph, El Greco may have intended

Virgin] with th e Child and Saint Agnes and

to illustrate su ch a visit. The placem ent of

Saint Martina ),88 and it gen erally has been

thi s scen e directly opposite Saint Martin

assumed that thi s version was a copy of or a

and the Beggar would have emphasized this

study for the altarpiece of the chapel.

m eaning. Posed on a horse proj ec ting out

Although th e identity of the figure on the

into the worshiper's space, Saint Martin

left as M artina might seem beyond dispute,

would have gazed across to th e opposite

th ere are good reasons to suppose that sh e may represent Thecla, whose attribute is also a lion. 89 Cossio identified this sa int as

altar, where the reward of his charitable action was envisioned . This representation

Thecla in 1908, and a few later schol ars

sid es of th e ch apel would have served to

h ave agreed with him. 90 Because th e previ-

ch arge th e space between the two paintings.

Beca use they visualized the m eans of sal-

ously m entioned painting, cited in the 1614

60

of the two parts of th e narrative on opposite

vation according to C ounter-Reform ation doctrin e, E l G reco's altarpieces commemorated the primary dedication of the ch apel to the continuous celebration of m em orial masses in h onor of the Ramfrez famil y. At the sam e time, th e fa mily's co n cern fo r earthly prestige would h ave b een sa tisfi ed by the originality and spl endor of these works. They claim ed that their willingn ess

Previous (and very different) versions of this fJ aper were fJresented to the Northern Ca lifornia Renaissance Co nference and the Pacific No rthwest Renaissance Conference.

In prefJ aring this article, I benefitted greatly from suggestions made by fJ articipants in these conferences as well as fro m co lleagues and audience members at the Gardner Museu m symposium.

to pay an extravagant pri ce fo r these altarpieces demonstrated th at they h ad n o interest in m aterial things and that th ey were devoted only to spiritual m atters. Yet, they also asserted that th e commission proved their wealth and good taste.95 These seemingly contradictory assertions reveal an ideology that the Ramfrez family sh ared with th e leading aristocrati c fa milies of Toledo

1. Broth e r Alonso de Zayas, Vida y virtudes del venerable siervo de Dias . . . Doctor martin Ramirez de Zayas ( 1adrid , 1662 ). Alonso de Zayas was a direct descendent of th e o riginal pa tron .

2. An excell e nt analysis of the politi cal and social situati on of Toledo in the late sixteenth century is provided

by Richard L. Kaga n , "The Tol edo of E l Greco," in El Greco of Toledo (exh . cat.) (Boston , 1982- 198 3), 35-7 3.

wh o so disdained them . T h ro ugh out th e

3. See, fo r exa mple, Ped ro Salaza r de M e ndoza,

Ren aissan ce period, Toledans m aintained

Cronica de el gran Cardenal de Espai'ia, Don Gonzalez de Mendoza (Toledo, 1625), 5-2 1; ibid ., Monarquia de Espafia, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1770), 2: 129-32; Fran c isco de Pisa, Descripci6n de la imfJerial ciudad de Toledo, y historia de sus antiguedades (Toledo, 1625; reprint,

that th eir zealous dedication to religious m atters justifi ed their ea rthly prestige .

E l G reco was ideally suited to work in this

M adrid, 1974), 80/r-89/r.

environment because h e created altarpieces that responded adm irably to b oth devoti on al and m aterialisti c n eeds. His synthesis of spiritual power an d physical splend or was

4 . Salaza r, M onarqu fa, 2: 130-3 1; P isa, l l/r- 14/r.

5. Ped ro de Alcocer, Historia o descripci6n de la imperial ciudad de Toledo, 2nd rev. ed . (Toledo, 1554), 20/v; Pisa, 80/r-81/v; Salaza r, D on Gonzalez de Mendoza, 5.

so effective that his paintings continue to move an d impress viewers.

6. Salazar, D on Gonzale;:; de Mendoza, 17, e mphasized th at the h igh sta ndards of its arc hbish ops distinguish ed Toledo fro m Rom e, because popes had made e rron eo us sta te m ents on points of doctrin e and som e tim es h ad co mmitted m ortal sins.

7. See, for exa mple, Pisa, 89/r ff.

8. Toledo's status as the Primacy of pain is di sc ussed in ve ry similar ways by th e fo ll owing sources: Alcocer, 35/r-3 5/v; Gonzalo cl el Ill escas, I-Iistoria fJontificial y catolica, 2 vols. (Burgos, 1578), 1: 16/r; Pisa, 80/r-89/v; Pedro Salaza r de Mendoza, dedi ca tion to El Glorioso Doctor San Ildefonso, Arr;obisfJo de Toledo, Primado de las Espaiias (Toledo, 1618), n.p. T he ceremonial privileges included th e right of the archbishop of Toledo to lead processions of Spanish Church offi cials; see Kagan, 53 and passim .

9. Ca rdinal Gaspar de Qui roga, introdu ction to Constitutiones sinodales hechas por el illv strissimo y reverendissimo Sei'i.or cl. Gaspar de Quiroga (Madrid , 1583), n.p.

10. Salaza r, Ildefonso, 123-24.

11. Berna rdin o Sandoval, Tratado del officio ecclesiastico canonico de Toledo (Toledo, 1567).

19. For a comprehensive discussion of this pain ting with an earlier bibliography, see Ri chard G. Ian n, El Greco and I-lis Patrons: Three tvlajor Projects (Ca mbridge, 1986), 36-41.

20 . Harold E. Weth ey, The Religious Paintings, vol. 1 of The Paintings of Titian: Com fJlete Edition (London, 1969), no. 14, pp. 74-76, pis. 17-19, 21-22.

21. T he most extensive art historical study on th e chapel is Hallclor Soehner, Una obra maestra de El Greco: La Ca pilla de San Jose de Toledo. Trans.

(Madrid , 196 1). This is a more extensively illustrated vers ion of Soehner's ea rli er article, "Ein I-Iauptwerk G recos: Die Kapelle San Jose in Toledo," Zeitschrift fiir Kunstwissenschaft 9 (1957): 185-222.

22 . Zayas disc usses th e history and purposes of the Chapel of Sa int Joseph. On its primary fun ction as a fun erary chapel, see especially 15/r- l 7/v.

2 3. Zayas, l l/v-17Iv; Soehner, Capilla, 19.

12. Ibid ., 119-20. See also Coun cil ofTrent, The Canons and Decrees of the Sacred and Ecumenical Council of Trent, eel . and trans. J. \t\fa terworth (London, 1848), "Decrees on Sacred Images," Session 25, December 3-4, 1563; 233-36.

24. Coun cil of Trent, "Decree on Reformati on," Session 25, December 3-4, 1563, chap. 4, 5, 9; 258-59, 264-67.

13. Sandoval, 119- 20.

26. See, for exa mple, Soehner, Capilla, 16.

14. Salaza r, dedi ca ti on to Ildefonso, n.p.

27. Cecile Jeglot, Saint fosefJh (Pari s, 1931), 9. Ca rl o Cesa re Malvas ia, Pittore, scoltore eel architettura delle chiese, luoghi publia, palazzi e casa della citta di Bologna (Bologna, 1792), 434, maintains that this church was established by 909.

15. Diego Angul o Iniguez, Pintura del Renacimiento, Ars Hispaniae, vol. 12 (Madrid, 195 5) provides a comprehensive survey and extens ive illustrations of Spanish painting in th e sixteenth century.

16. For a reprod uction, see ibid ., fig. 200.

17. A. Hya tt Mayor, Prints and PeofJle: A Social History of Printed Pictures (Prin ceton, 1971 ), pl. 130.

18. A lively and comprehensive account of the evolution of th is aspect of th e cul t of Ma ry is provided by Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex (London and New York, 1976), 81- 11 7, 236-54.

fo

25. Zayas, 15/v.

28. On these, see Sa int Teresa de JesC1s, Libra de las fvndaciones (1582), in Obras comfJletas, eel. Efren de la Madre de D ias and Otge r Steggink (Madrid , 1979), 521-58. All references to th e Li bro de las fundaciones wi ll be to th is edi tion.

29. Zayas, 10/v-12/r, 14/v-15/v.

30. Teresa, Fundaciones, 558-64, provides essential documentation abo ut th e ea rl y history of th e instituti on . Efren cl e la Madre cl Dios a nd Otger Steggink, Santa Teresa y su tiemfJo , 2 vols. (Sa laman ca, 1984), 2: 208-10, 222-35, 260-66, suppl em ents Te resa's account with additional doc um entation from th e archives of th e Carmelite order. Agustin Rodrig uez y Rodriguez, "Santa Teresa cle Jesus e n Tol edo," Boletin de la Real

Academia de Bella Artes y Ciencias Hist6ricas de Toledo 4 (1923): 26-45, provides an especially h elpful analysis of th e sa int's n egotiations with officials of th e archbishopric ancl transcribes extensive portions of relevant documents. The account of Zayas, 10/r-24/v, obviously is intend ed to present th e actions of th e pa trons in th e best possible light. Zayas is, h owever, an essential so urce because h e provides many details abo ut th e history of th e c hapel ancl its activities. Jose Gomez-Menor, "Don Di ego cle Zayas y su re trato post morte m en la Capilla cle San Jose de Toledo," Boletin de arte toledano 1 ( 1968) :1 77-83, reviews th e history of th e chapel ancl presents biographi cal informa tion abo ut th e Ramirez famil y. I have utili zed all these sources in preparing th e summary of the history of the chapel. Specific references are given only when neecl ecl to clarify the source of a particular fact or id ea .

38. For more on this, see Mann, 4-6 (ancl bibli ograph y).

39. Te resa, Funclaciones, 561-62. Rodriguez y Rodrigu ez, 30-34.

40. Te resa, Funclaciones, 562. Rodrigu ez y Rod rig uez, 31-32. Saint Te resa clicl no t specify th e amount of m o ney donated by Andrada , but sh e impli ed th at h e was able to provi de only a relatively small sum.

Nevertheless, sh e e mphas ized h er gratitude for Anclracla's exceptional gen eros ity, which enabled the convent to survive.

41 . Te resa, Fundaciones, 561-62.

42. Saint Teresa cle Jesus, EfJistolario ( 1658), in Obras completas, ed. Efren cle la Madre cl e Dios ancl Otger Steggink (Maclricl , 1979), 734.

43 . Ibid ., 829.

44. Ibid., 111 6, 1121.

4 5. Ibid ., 696-97, 734 .

46. Sandoval, 49-52, 130-45.

31. Te resa, Fundaciones, 560.

4 7. Zayas, 11/v, 14/v-15/v.

32. Ibid ., 577.

48. Ibid ., l 7/r- 18/r.

33. Ibid ., 559.

34. Be tween 1559 ancl 15 76, Archbishop Bartolome Carranza was imprisoned by th e Inquisition o n charges of he resy, from which h e eventually was exon era ted.

On Carra n za's imprisonm ent, see Mann, 3-4, 6-8 (ancl bibli ography). All sources cited in note 30 provide cl etail ecl discuss ion of Saint Te resa's initial probl em s in Tol edo .

35 . Zayas, l 4/r-15/r.

36. Teresa, Fundaciones , 561, notes the difficulties ca used by th ese pre judices, whi ch were opposed to her beli ef that virtue was unrelated to earthl y status.

37. Gomez-M en or, 177-78.

49. Fernando Marfas, La Arquitectura del renacimiento en Toledo (1541-1631), 3 vols. (Madrid, 1983-86), 3: 182-83.

50. Ibid ., 3: 182-84.

51. Zayas, 16/v.

52. An important sixteenth-century advoca te ofJoseph 's c ult is Francisco Suarez, a widely read Jesuit theologian ancl devotional writer, who emph asized th e sa int in his Misterios de la vida de Cristo ( 1572), eel. Ro maulcl o Galclos, 2 vols. (M adrid , 1948), 1: 239-8 1. An excell ent history of th e growth of th e cult of Joseph is F. L. Filas, The Man Neares t to Christ (Milwaukee, 1944). See also no te 53 below.

53. Isid ro de Isolanus, S11mma de donis S. fosefJh (1522), eel . with add ed trans. to Spanish, Bonifac io Llamera (i\Iaclricl , 1953), -+58-65, -+76-8 1, 502-5, 512-15, 5-+-+- -+6, 550-54, 568-78, 590-60-+, 629-30.

On th e importance of this trea tise, see Emil e Male, L'art religie11x de fa fi n d11 ).,,"VJ" siecle, d11 A.'VII" siecle, et d11 )(VIIJe siecle (Paris, 1972), 313-15.

5-+. On th e Assumpti on ofJ oseph, see especiall y Isolanus, 553-68, 616-19.

55. Ibid ., 36-t-65, 619-21 , 638--+5.

56. Al onso de Villegas, Flos Sanctorwn, seg11nda fJarte y historia general en q11e se escribe la vicla de la Virgen sacratissima y de los santos antig11os (Toledo, 1588), 23/v-27 Iv, 4 l/r-42/r. Also, Al onso de Villegas, Flos Sanctorwn, q11arta y 11ltima parte y discw sos o sermones sabre todos los domingos clel afio (Madrid , 1593), 32/r-34/r.

57. Fra ncisco de Borja de San Roman y Fernandez, "De la vicla clel G reco," Archivo esfJai'iol de arte y arq11eologia 8-9 (1927) : 309, no. 28, establishes that El Greco owned thi s book.

58. Isolanus, -+22-25, -+36-39, 550-59, 575, 582-88.

59. See especiall y Villegas, Flos Sanctorum, seg11nda parte, 26/r- 27 /r.

65. Soehn er, CafJilla, 17-20.

66. lsolanus, 409-14.

67. Ibid ., 447-60, 498.

68. For a concise overview of the iconograph y of Joseph , see Male, 313-2 5. More cl eta ilecl info rma ti on is provided by Marj ori e Bolge r Foster, "The Iconograph y of Sa in t Joseph in Ne th erlanclish Art, 1400-1550" (Ph .D . cliss., Uni versity of Kansas, 1978) and by Jose Luis O rozco Pard o, San Jose en la eswlt11ra granaclina (Granada, 1974).

69. For reprodu cti ons of these paintings, see Jonath an Brown and Ri chard G. Mann, Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth thro11gh Nineteenth Cent11ries, Th e Collecti ons of th e Na tional Gall ery of Art Systema tic Ca talogue (Ca mbridge, 1990), 74, fi g. 2 (Prado version) and 75, color plate ( TGA version).

70. Foster, 24 1, convincingly suggests that th e th eme may have been developed from images of the Flight to Egypt.

71. For a reproducti on of the print, see Alan Sh estack, Fifteenth-CentW)' Engravings of Northern E11rofJe (exh . cat.) (Washington, D.C., 1967), no. 256. For a reprod ucti on of the sc ul pture, see O rozco Pardo, pl. 2.

60. Zayas, 38/r- 170/r, explains his virtues at great length .

72. Johannes Molanus, De Historia SS. Imaginw n et Pictarwn (Louva in, 157 1). O n th e importance of Molanus's trea ti se, see Male, 2 and pass im.

61. Francisco de Borj a de San Romany Fern andez, El Greco en Toledo (Madrid , 19 10), 157-58.

73. Mola nus, 269- 72. He also reco mm end ed that Joseph be represented as yo ung and handsome (p. 270).

62. T he relevant doc um ent is transc ribed by Soehn er, Ca fJilla , 37, n. 22.

74. lsolanus, 568-70, specificall y links Joseph walking with th e Chil d to his effec ti veness as an intercessor.

The general conn ection between Joseph's powe r in th e heavens and th e C hild 's dependence on him is discussed by lsolanus, 447-48, 457-60, 463-65, 502-4, 512- 15, 550- 54, 566- 68,603-4.

63. On that commission, see Mann, 20-45 and pl. 3.

64. Ferna nd o Ma rfas, "Un retablo de Ca rbonell atribuicl o al G reco y una hi p6tesis sabre los de la Ca pilla de San Jose," Archivo espm1ol clel arte 50 (1977): 32-+-27.

75. Vill egas, Flos Sanctorwn, segw1da fJarte, 27/r-27/v.

76. lsolanus, 568-90, emphasizes this concepti on of Joseph.

77. The symbolism of these flowers is anal yzed by Soehner, Caf;illa, 25.

78. lsolanus, 487-50 1, 567-78, 601-5, 630-34.

88. San Rom an y Fernand ez, El Greco en Toledo, 192.

Th e inventory mad e of th e possessions of El Greco's son in 1621 lists two paintings of this subj ec t. See San Roman y Fernandez, "La vicla clel Greco," 292, nos. 53 and 5-t.

79. Ibid ., 553-5-t, 591-601.

80 . Villegas, Flos Sanctorum, segunda fJarte, 27 Iv.

89. I-fo r legend and symbolism are disc ussed by Villegas, Fructus Sanctorum , 304/r, and by Rea u, 3( 3): 12 50-52.

81. Martin 's legend is di sc ussed by Alonso de Villegas, Fructus Sanctorum y quinta fJarte del Flos Sanctorum (C uenca, 1594), 82/r-82/v, 246/r-247/v; Jacobus Voraign e, The Golden Legend, trans. Granger Ryan and Helmut Ripperger ( 1941 ; reprint, l ew York, 1969), 663-7-t; Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, M artyrs, and Other Princif;al Saints, eel. F. C. 1-:lusenbeth , 4 vols. (London , 1926), + 187-97; and Louis Rea u, Iconographie de l'art chretien, 3 vols. (Paris, 195 51959), 3(2), 907-9.

90. Cossio, 588, no. 241; Wal te r S. Cook, "Spanish Paintings in th e National Gallery of Art: I. El Greco to Goya," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 28 (August 1945): 66; Paul Guinarcl, El Greco, trans. James Emmons (Cleveland , 1956), 26; and Enrique Lafu ente Ferrari and Jose i\llanuel Pita, El Greco: The Expressionism of His Final Years, trans. Robert E. Wolf ( ew York, 1975), 125, no. 57.

91. Reau, 3(3): 1250.

82. Soehn er, Caf;illa, 35, n. 3, transcribes th e insc ription.

83. Council of Trent, "Dec ree on Justifi ca tion ," Session 6, January 13, 1547; 42-49.

84. Zayas, H /r- 15/v.

92. Villegas, Fructus Sanctorvm, 104/r.

93. Butler, 1: 82, traces back to Saint Ambrose th e tradition th at th e Virgin Mary and saints Agn es and Thecla were th e leading defenders of chastity. The insc ription on Ramirez's tomb is transcribed by Soehner, CafJilla , 35, n. 3.

85. Isolanus, 478-95, 502-5.

86. Manuel B. Cossfo, El Greco (i\llaclricl, 1908), 588, no. 241, appears to have been th e first writer to assign specific nam es to th e virgin martyrs. His identifi ca ti on of Agnes has been followed by all later scholars, including Soehner, Caf;illa, 31. The legend and sym bolism of Agnes were discussed by Villegas, Fructus Sanctorum, 50/v. Further informati on on her cult is provided by Butler, 1: 82-84.

87. August L. Mayer, El Greco (Muni ch, 1911 ), 40; Ludwig Golclsheicler, El Greco (London , 1948), pl.

11 6; Jose Camon Aznar, Dominico Greco, 2 vols.

(Madrid , 1950), 2: 1369, no. 227; Soehner, Capilla , 31; Harold Weth ey, El Greco and His School, 2 vols.

(Prin ceton , 1962), 2: 12, no. 17; and William Jordan, in El Greco ofToledo (exh. cat.) (Boston , 1982-1983), 2-tl- -+2, no. 31. On Martina's cult, see Rea u, 3(2): 9 18.

94. Voraignc, 668. The representation in art of the visit is disc ussed bri efly by Rea u, 3(2): 668. This event is depicted in virtually all of th e fifteenth- and sixteenthcentury Spanish retables of Saint Martin 's life, which have been reco rded in the archives of th e Frick Art Reference Library, New York. The fifteenth-century Retable of Saint Martin by th e Master of Hix in th e parish church ofI-lix is among th e many that include this scene (photo at FARL).

95. Zayas, 16/r.

BODY A

D SOUL I i

TH E BASILICA OF TH

EscoRIAL

Catherine Wilkinson Zerner Brown Univer s ity

AR C HI TECTURE AND T H E BODY

'

'

The Royal Monaste ry of Saint Lawre nc e at the E scorial was found ed , built, and decorated by Philip II of Spain between 1563 and his death in 1598. One of the great building proj ects of the age, it stands as his monum ent to his reign and to his dynasty of Spanish Habsburgs (fig . 1). It is also very much a monument of the Catholic Counter Reformation: an assertion of faith and a symbol of Catholic orthodoxy. The

Fig. 1. Perspective view of the Escorial. Drawing

sanctuary of th e Basilica at the core of th e

by Juan de Herrera; engraving by Pedro Perret, in

building is one of the most splendid and

Las Estampas (Madrid, 1589), pl. 6. (Photogra ph

effective compositions in Renaissanc e

co urtesy of the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid. )

architecture.

owhe re else are royal and

religious imagery so pe rfectly integrated

b e accommodated by th e building. 2 The

and their mutual dependence so visibly

spac e of Catholic rituals can be defin ed

ma nifeste cl .1

without a building but not without the per-

Th e san ctuary of the Basilica is a m eti cu-

sons (bodies) who e na ct its ceremonies, and

lously constru cted whole in which a rchitec-

I would like to focus on spectators and

ture, painting, and sculpture fun ction

actors rather than on masonry as a \vay of

together, but it is also a space con structed

exploring the relations b etween ideas and

around the human body. When sixteenth-

the architecture of the Escorial. How does

century prelates and architects spoke of th e

the Basilica look as th e response to the

fun ctions of a church , they were often refer-

n eeds of these bodies? Can th e d es ign of

ring to the physical bodies whose pla ce-

the building b e usefull y seen as such a

m ent, movem ents, and gestures n eed ed to

response? In what follows, I will briefl y

66

consider the living participants before turning to the various representations of bodies-relic, corpse, coffin, painting, and statue-to see how they function in this extraordinary work of art.

VISIBILI TY OF TI-IE BODY

The interior of the Basilica is organized to dramatize the celebration of the mass on the high altar at its eastern encl. The sanctuary is raised and approached by a wide flight of steps so that the focus is upon the body of Christ, the essential body that gives meaning to all the others, on the altar in the tabernacle of th e Sacrament. To th e left and right of the entrance to the sanctuary are the t\,vo reliquary altars containing the fragments of the bodies of over 7,000 sa ints.

Fig. 2. Interior of the sanctua ry and main

The main altarpiece, which rises over

al tarpiece of the Basilica of the Escorial.

ninety feet to th e va ult, is decorated with

Engraving by Pedro Perret, Madrid, 1589.

life-size gilded bronze statues of saints;

(Photograph cou rtesy of the Biblioteca

these figure s frame paintings of sac red

acional, Madrid. )

histori es . Statues of the crucified Christ between Mary and John are at the summit.

spine of the Escorial, its only sequence of

On the sid es of the sanctuary facing th e

public spa ces. This processional way lea ds

altar are the effigies of th e Spanish

directly to the high altar, ascending in

Habsburgs on monumental raised stages,

stages from th e stark simplicity of the Doric

their pediments decorated with huge

frontispiece on the main facade, through

h eraldic shi elds. Kn eeling statu es of th e

the Courtyard of the Kings with its Doric

emperor Charles V, the empress Isab ella,

portico and statues of Old Testament kings,

their daughter, and th e emperor's sisters

to encl in th e stunning display at the color-

face th e altar on th e Gospel (no rth ) side.

ful and jeweled sanctuary where th e taber-

Philip II, three of his four wives, and first-

n acle of the Sacrament sits above th e altar

born son Don Carlos kneel to face the altar

table in the ce nter of the retable, each of

on th e Epistle (south ) side.

The sanc tuary of the Basilica is th e very

whose four stories is ornamented v11ith one

h eart of the Escorial, and the entire build-

of the classical orders (fi g. 2).

We are now accustomed to an uninter-

ing is organized to dramatize its signifi-

rupted view of th e main altar even in large

cance. The axis from the main entrance on

churches, but this was by no means usual in

the west facade to the sanctuary is the visual

th e sixteenth century, and the visual track

from facad e to sanctuary at th e E scorial can

under the choir, which looks and fun ctions

be associated with Catholic Reform . In col-

like a vestibule in the plan , is the sotacoro ,

legiate and cathedral churches b efor e the Counter Reformation , in Spain as else-

the only public church at the Escorial. In actuality, the sotacoro was a distinct church,

wh ere in Europe, the faithful 's vi ew of the

separated from the Basilica by bronze grills.

altar was normally blocked by the trascoro

The huge Basilica proper with its forty sec-

(choir enclosure ), as in the cathedrals of

ondary altars and abundance of relics, was

Toledo and in the n ew cathedral of

closed to the public. Jose de Sigu en za, who

Salamanca. Alfonso Roclrfgu ez G . de

was a m onk at the E scorial and wrote an

C eballos has shown that the worship and

eloqu ent and well-informed history of the

display of th e Euch arist during the mass and at other tim es, which was affirmed by

building at the encl of the sixteenth century, said the Basilica was really a private church ,

the Council of Trent, encouraged unim-

and m ore properly speaking, a royal ch apel,

ped ed vi ewing and affected th e design of

for th e exclusive use of the monks and the

church es in Spain. 3 The classicizing cathedral of Granada, designed and supervised

royal fa mily. 5 The Basilica, now totally accessibl e, was

by Diego de Siloe from 1528, was th e first

inaccessible but not invisibl e to the orcli-

to adopt th e open arrange m ent that later

n ary worshiper, and the sp ectacle of divine

b eca m e typical of Reform ed Catholic prac-

and royal splendor was, in m any resp ects,

tice: the tabernacl e of the Sac rament was

b est seen from the sotacoro. Th e t abernacle

placed on the main altar, the choir en clo-

is visibl e even when th e grills are closed;

sure was eliminated, and the altar was com-

and it seem s close r than it really is (m ore

pl etely visible from th e fr ee space of the n ave and aisles. 4 This n ew emphasis on visi-

than 150 fee t away) wh en the light striking

bility posed th e problem of wh ere to put

fo r the H ost) within the tab ernacl e shines

choir stalls. About 15 80, Juan de H errera

out p owerfull y in the dim interior. The

solved this in his design for the cathedral of Valladolid by placing th e altar under th e

color of this light is regulated according to th e ritual calendar by ch an ging a colored

sh allO\v dome in the center of the church

cloth at th e back of the altar. 6 Special

and putting th e choir en closure b ehind the

effects like this require machinery back-

altar in the eastern h alf of th e church .

stage, and the glowing tab ernacle is lit by a

At the Escorial, the vie\"-'S into the

sm all window in the courtya rd of the royal

Basilica were m ore m eticulously ordered and controll ed than at eith er G ran ada or

the custodia (monstran ce or sac red h ousing

palace behind the apse.

Seeing is crucial to the architecture of

Valladolid. C h oir stalls in the n ave were n ot

the Basilica, which in man y ways reminds

a problem at the E scorial since, follo wing a

us of a m odern theater wh ere every actor,

long-standing Spanish tradition , the ch oir of

even th ose offstage, is carefull y placed . The

the m onks was located out of sight, on th e

placem ent of th e audien ce is n o less criti-

upp er level b ehind the faca de at th e west-

cal. T h e stage of the Basilica is more com-

ern encl of the Basilica. The area b elow

plicated than m ost theaters, however,

68

because there are several audiences: the

the oratory from the sa nctuary and from

faithful in the sotacoro; the monks in the

his apartment. The doors opening to the

choir; and the king and royal family in the Basilica or in the royal oratories, which are

oratories from the landing of the stairs in the sanctuary signal the presence of an

concealed behind doors from the sides of

unseen king who is watching offstage. One

the sa nctuary. Each audience is placed so

of the few drawings that survive of the

it can see th e officiating priests and the Eucharist on the main altar, but, although

Escorial illustrates the visual relationship between Philip II's bedroom and the high

individuals in any group can see their com-

altar of the Basilica and shows how pre-

panions if they wish to look at them, each

cisely the visual relations among the vari-

group of viewers is invisible to the others.

ous actors in the compos ition had to be cal-

The experience of the mass is to the greatest

culated for the space to function (fig. 3).7

extent possible visually privileged and pri-

Visible and invisible presences coexist

vate. The interior of th e Basilica is orga-

in the Eucharist, of course. In addition,

nize d for controlled seeing and being seen.

fra gme nts of th e bodies of saints were present and invisibl e behind the painted

I NV ISIBL E BODIES

doors of the two reliquary altars. In earlier

Invisibility also has an important role in

Catholic practice, relics were often dis-

th e Basilica where th e presence of unseen

played inside a case representing a part of th e body or encased in a complete image

bodies is manifested by the trac es they have left in the architecture or by their

of the sa int. Philip kept his relics veiled

sculpted or painted surrogates. The royal

from view, as if their power could be dissi-

oratories on either side of th e sanctuary are visible from th e Basilica only as sets of

pated by too much exposure, and they were brought out only in special circum-

doors, but th ey were an essential part of

stanc es. Worshipers believe d that th e sight

the layout of the Basilica because th e king

of relics was important and complained

n ee ded to be able to see mass from his oratory and from his private apartment adja-

about the difficulty of getting a glimpse of th em on th e few clays when they were

cent to it. H e th erefore n eed ed access to

shown in th e Basilica .

Fig. 3. Sight lin es from Philip II's oratory to the main altar of the Basilica and to th e windows of his apartm ent. Drawing by Juan de Herrera, n.cl. (After M. Lopez Serrano, Cata.logo.)

Th e invisibl e army of sa ints a nd m a rtyrs at th e Escorial, p e rhap th e largest su c h host gath e red togethe r in one place in th e Christian \,vo rld , should b e kept in mind \,vh e n \,ve co n sid e r th e Spanish H absburgs \,vhose d ead bodi es were also present and unseen in the Basilica. 8 The Escorial see m s to b e a giant mausoleum, a nd th ere is no doubt that th e m emorial fun ction was the key feature of its plan. 9 In his foundation letter, addressed to the Orde r of Saint Jerome in 15 67, Philip stated his n eed to

Fig. 4. Section drawing of Juan Bautista de

provid e an honorabl e burial for his pare nts

Toledo's project for the Bas ili ca, before 1567.

and continuous prayers and sac rifi ces for

(After M. Lopez Serrano, Catdlogo. )

their souls as th e imm ediate reason for building th e Escorial.1 0

THE EMPTY CHAPEL

Philip was curiously reticent, howeve r,

On e of the ea rliest surviving drawings for

about what form th e tomb were to tak e.

the Basilica (fi g. 4 ) is attributed to the first

Odde r still , none of th e ea rly drawings

architect of the Escorial, Juan Bautista d e

shows a n y tomb and no written do c um ent

Toledo, and so dates from b efore 15 67, the

de sc rib es visu al imagery in situ until th e

year of his d eath. 11 It shows a large chapel

contract for th e high altar in 15 79, sixteen

with a dom ed vault unde rneath the steps of

years after building b egan a nd four years

the sanctuary. To th e west are lower and

afte r d es igns for th e Basilica vve re inalter-

upp er gall eries opening onto th e ch apel

ably fixed .

space . Although we do not associate burial

I or

did Philip say at th e outset

where in th e Escorial th e bodi es were to

crypts with Re naissa n ce architecture (th ey

b e buri ed , only tha t h e wo uld c hoose th e

are more ch a racteristic of M edi eval

place himself. As a result, we know very

church es), th e monk Jose d e Sigli en za

littl e about th e ea rly stages of plann ing.

recorded this undergrou nd feature as a

Exactl y wh ere in th e Escorial Philip origi-

crypt and related that Philip originally

nally intend ed to bury his father, wh at

intended, although h e later ch anged his

form th e monument over his father's

mind, to bury his parents th e re. The ch ap el

corp se was to take, or even if th ere was to

was to be like an Early Christian cemetery

be a monument \Vere not revealed until

wh ere masses for th e dead would be cele-

afte r th e co n stru ction of th e Escori al was

brated und erground in front of th e coffins

officially conclud ed with th e laying of the

in th e way that m asses had b een celeb rated

symboli c fin ~il stone in the Co urtya rd of

for martyrs in antiquity.1 2 The monks

th e Kings in 1584. But we do poss ess lim-

wo uld be in the gall ery. We d o n ot know

ited evid ence that bears directly on th ese

wheth er this ch apel really was modeled on

questions.

Ren aissance ideas of Early C hristian prac-

tice or was inspired by Medieval royal

ial in cemeteries, outside the church

crypts in Spain and elsewhere, but it is

entirely.1 5 For reform-minded prelates who

interesting to note that the reappearanc e of an ancient form in a modern classical

wished to clear their liturgical spaces of

building is consistent with Catholic

for those who insisted on being buried

Reformers' wish to identify with the purity

inside the church. This was still virtually

of early Christianity.

everyone except the destitute in the sixteenth century. 16 For the patron, burial

This crypt is not unique in sixteenth-

worldly imagery, a crypt provided a solution

century design. In September 1562, while

beneath the pavement offered the poss ibil-

the Escorial was being planned, the duke

ity of greater proximity to an altar. An ex-

of Mantua ordered the transformation of his

tremely powerful patron such as Charles V

palace chapel of Santa Barbara in Mantua.

might hope to be buried nearly or partly

The choir was placed behind the altar and

under an altar, but the space directly below

a burial crypt for the Gonzaga dukes was

an altar was considered too sacred for sec u-

placed below the floor level. 13 Somewhat

lar or even clerical burials; only the remains

earlier in Spain, about 1552, the d esign for

of sa ints were to be buried there .17

a small church in the hospital of Saint John

In spite of their advantages, the crypts

the Baptist in Toledo was recast on a huge

proved to be unsatisfactory as final resting

scale as a domed, funerary church for its

places in two of these three examples. The

founder, the Cardinal Archbishop Tavera.

crypt at the Tavera hospital was built in the

The new project included a chapel under

early 1560s, but it was never used. Instead,

the altar for the cardinal's tomb.1-1-

the cardinal's tomb, with its corresponding

These burial crypts may have been con-

body and effigy, was placed directly in front

n ected with contemporary Catholic views

of th e altar in the church. Nor did Philip II

on images. Although we u sually associate

u se the burial c rypt at the Escorial,

the Counter Reformation with a focus on

although it was also constructed. It was

religious images, clerics were also con-

being vaulted in 15 70, much as it appeared

cerned with secular imagery and with the

in Juan Bautista's ea rl y drawing of the

ways in which it impinged on sacred space.

Basilica . It was lab eled "C" and described

In 1565 , for example, the synod of Milan

simply as "a chapel," although no altar

described the risks of allowing ornate tombs

appeared there in Juan de Herrera's longi-

inside the church: Tombs would transform

tudinal section of th e Escorial publish ed in

"the divine temple into a military ca mp"

1589 (fig. 5). As far as we know, the crypt

with their trophi es and victories, and they

was still empty and undecorated at Philip's

would crowd the sacred area around the

death in 1598.

altar with secular figures. Bodies should be

If th e unde rground chapel remained

buried out of sight in va ults below the pave-

empty, where was th e body of Charles V?

m ent.

The answer was already visible in Juan

o tomb should be allowed within

three cubits of the altar. Better yet, bishops

Bautista 's ea rly section drawing of the

should reinstate the ancient c ustom of bur-

Basilica, where a small, vaulted spac e is

71

I

I

11111

I

'1\111'>

I

shown to the upper left of the chapel, directly under the main altar, and inclicated by a square block in the drawing.

Philip ordered the coffins of Charles V and the other Spanish Habsburgs placed in thi s vault under the altar in 1586 and they are labeled "B," "royal burials," in H errera's engraving. 18 The rejection of the chapel (" C" ) as a burial place in favor of the vault ("B") seems to be the change made by Philip and described by Sigl.ienza. If so,

Fig. 5. Section through the Basilica on th e

it was decided before 15 67.

east-west axis. Drawing by Juan de Herrera;

The reasons remain obscure about why

engraving by Pedro Perret, in Las Estampas

Philip did not eliminate the crypt from the

(Madrid , 15 89), pl. 5. (Photograph courtesy of

plans of the Escorial. It is unusual to con-

the Biblioteca

acional, Madrid. )

struct part of a building and then decide not to use it; it would have been even more

deceased was paralleled by the widespread

remarkabl e for Philip to continue to build

rejection of cemeteries and return to burials

this chapel if h e had no intention of using it. I shall return to thi s problem shortly, but

inside the church, and by the p ersistent desire for burial n ear an altar. The burial

first we need to look more closely at burial

vault could provide all this. The only thing

practices and, especially, at how Charles V

it could not offer, unless it were a full-

visuali zed his own burial.

fl edged fun eral chapel, was a visual connection b etween the mass and a representation of th e deceased.

TH E B ODY OF CIIARLES V

Traditionally, church patrons, desiring to

Yet patrons clearly \Va nted this, too.

be in close proximity to th e mass, so ught to

At th e Roya l Chapel in Granada where

place tombs n ea r an altar (fig. 6). This

C h arles's grandparents (th e Catholi c

pra ctice explains th e great numb er of pri-

Kin gs) and his parents are buried, th e

vate chap els in churches. Once the belief

crypt below th e altar houses plain coffins

in purga tory became widespread in western

containing the bodies of Ferdinand ,

Europe, sac rific es and prayers to b en efit

Isabella, Juana la Loca, and Philip of

th e soul in purgatory beca m e an important

Burgundy. 20 Th ere are no other represen-

feature of Catholic piety. Th e steadily

tations in th e crypt. Abovegro und and fac-

increasing number of masses that were pur-

ing th e altar, where th ey can figuratively

cha sed for this purpose from the thirteen th

see th e mass, are two doubl e tombs (actu-

through th e sixteenth centuri es has bee n

ally, cenotaphs, since th e bodies are not in

docum ented throughout Europe, although

th em) of th ese sa m e individuals. Their

at different rates in different

areas. 19

This

investm ent in masses for the soul of th e

72

eyes are closed as if asleep in the old tombimage of the body and so ul together, v,1ait-

ing for res urrection at the Last Judgm ent.

Additional images of th e Catholi c Kin gs watch th e m ass from th e sid es of the altarpiece wh ere th ey app ea r as kn eeling fi gures in p erp etu al ad oration of th e Sacram ent.

ultiple representati ons of th e

deceased are not un common in fun erary art, but th ey are always interesting because th ey represent different states of b eing. Of th e three represe ntations of th e Cath olic Kings in Granada- th eir coffin s, rec umbent effi gies, and praying statu es -only th e kn eeling fi gures app ear to b e full y alive. Perhaps th ese are rea listi c p ortraya ls of Ferdinand and Isabella befor e th eir deaths, but it is also obvi ous that only they, who are alert and aware, can b e considered images of their saved souls \,vho are praising

F ig. 6. Fun erary chapel of Pedro Go nzalez

Goel and adoring th e E u ch arist. Asp ects

Alde rete, San Antonin, To rd esillas.

of th e arran ge m ent in Granada are still unclear to m e: the tombs were only

(Ph otograph by th e author.)

install ed in th e seventeenth century, and

arrangem ents was inspired both by th e

they m ay originally h ave been intended to hold the bodies. I m ention G ran ada, h ow-

Royal C h apel in Gran ada and by th e great

ever, b eca use the Roya l Chap el is closely connected to Philip's fun erary proj ect at the E sc orial.

Charl es V had wanted to be buried with his wife in th e Royal C h ap el in G ran ada, but by the tim e h e retired to the J eronymite monastery at Yuste, wh ere h e died, h e h ad ch an ged his mind. In the codicil to his testam ent elated shortly before his death in 15 58, th e emperor ch arged his son , Philip, with th e burial of himself and Isabella.

C h arles also gave sp ecific instru ctions for his provisional burial at Yuste and , sh ould Philip decide to bury hi m th ere perman ently, for his m onument in the m on astery's church . Charles V's visualization of th ese

Trinity, \Vhich vvas known as the Gloria , that Titian h ad painted for him in 15 54 (fig. 7).

Charles asked that his bod y be buried under the pavem ent with his feet toward the m ain altar and partly b en eath it. On th e altar aboveground, h e \Va ntecl a carved ston ereli ef copy of Titian's painting, v,1ith whateve r additions and deletions Philip and the exec utors sa\v fit to m ake. To th e right of th e altar, h e wanted an alabaster tabernacle to h old the Sac ram ent. Flanking the tab ernacl e, h e requ ested portrait statu es of himself and the empress, represented bareh eaded, barefoot, wrapped in sh ro uds, and p raying to the E u ch arist, exactly as we see them in Titian' painting. 21 C harl es chose to b e portrayed as a sen-

73

tient person in perpetual adoration of th e Sacrament. The role is id entical to that of Siloe's fi gures of the Catholic Kings on the altarpiece in Granada with one exception: there is no longer any ambiguity about \vhat tate of b eing is represented. Charles is not dea d; rather, h e is living, but h e do es not appear as h e was in life, sinc e hi s body has died. H e h as sh ed his fin e cloth es, retaining only his imp erial crown, and, togeth er with other members of his family, h e adores the Trinity. H e appears like the souls in purgatory (saved souls, we must remember), who are often described as rejoicing and praising God as th eir sins are purged away.

Charles re jected the transitional and ambiguous image of body and soul together and apparently asleep, which was a popular form of tomb effigy in Spain and elsewh ere.

Fig. 7. Titian's Gloria painted for C h arles V in 1554,

H e also rejected th e equ ally popular repre-

now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid . (Photograph:

sentation of a living person . Instead h e

lnsti tuto Ama tller de Arte Hispfoico, Barcelona .)

imagined himself in two distinct statesphysically dead and spiritually alive-

h ave b een highly unorthodox to h ave repre-

which were to be represented by separate

sented the emperor and empress as h aving

images in his burial at Yuste. The represen-

already experi enced their bodily resurrec-

tation of the deceased as a transi (decaying

tion; it seem s more probable that they are

cadaver), which was paired with a portrait

penitent souls, but it is no wonder Charles

of th e living soul of the deceased on torn bs

V called the Trinity the Last Judgment.

in France and northern Europe, was never

Perhaps for him it was, since, in deciding

popular in Spain . For Charles, and later for

the soul's admission to purgatory and its

his son, the evocative sh ape of the coffin, a

ultimate salvation , th e judgment of th e

wooden box with a body's sh ape, was the

so ul at death was the only one that really

only way to represent the dead b ody, as if

counted. The Last Judgm ent could wait,

the anonymity of physical death was the

although the painting implies that C h arles

compl ement to th e individuality of the liv-

hoped to be first in lin e when it cam e.

C h arles V's instruc tions for the burial of

ing soul. The corpse lies hidden with the feet und erneath the altar and th e rest of the

his body were carried out at Yuste, wh ere h e

body beneath the priest saying mass , but

lay under or very nearly under th e altar

Charles and Isabella in Titian's image live

until 157 3, but the sculptural monument

in a radiant wo rld b eyond our own. It would

was n ot executed since th e emperor was not

74

to be p e rmanently buried there. Philip's

the plans, but only in 1586 did Philip make

respect, verging on veneration, for his father

his intentions for the burial vault expli cit:

is well known, and it is not surprising that th e en1peror's wishes affected arrangements

Porqu e h e acordaclo que las cuerpos

at the Escorial. In 1586, as soon as the

Reales del Emperador y Rey mi Senor y

Basilica had b een consecrated, Philip II

padre; y de la Emperatriz y Reina mi

ordered the e mperor's coffin and those of

Senora y madre, y los demas que estan

his other relatives moved from th eir quar-

depositatos ya vuestro cargo en el dicho

ters under the pavement of the temporary

monasterio, se pasen y traslad en de donde

monastic church (iglesia de prestado ), where

ago ra esta n a la b6vecla debajo del altar

h e had placed them in 15 73 and 1574 to

mayor de la igles ia principal, que es

await completion of the Basilica, and placed

el luga r qu e manclo senalar para su

in the small , undecorated burial vault that

enterra mi ento , n o obstante qu e conforme

lies above and east of the burial crypt and

a lo dispuesto par la escriptura de

under the main altar. The body of Charles V

fundaci6n y dotaci6n del que otorgu e

was buried exactly as it had b een at Yuste .22

a 22 de abril clel ano pasado de 1567,

This choice seem s evident as soon as the burial vault was represented in drawings for

estaba ordenado qu e fuese en la b6veda clebajo de la cap ill a mayor. â&#x20AC;˘ 23

the Basilica. The Basilica was d es ign ed in stages; several proj ects, mostly lost, were

Philip II exch a n ged the image of an

known to have b een prepared by Juan

Early Christian martyr in an underground

Bautista d e Toledo, b etween 1563 and

chapel for an even clearer appropriation of

1567. Critiques of th ese were made by other

sanctity in the burial va ult. 2+ It was not

architects and n ew plans were proposed .

unusu al to position a body und er th e pave-

Juan Bautista's d esigns were even sent away

ment, fee t first and facing an altar in prepa-

to Italy for evaluation. A n ew set of d esigns,

ration for th e Last Judgm ent, when it will

based on all the previous ones, was pre-

b e reunited with th e soul and rise to face

pared by Juan Bautista's su ccessor, Juan de

God; but a vertical alignment with the

H errera. D esign was a len gthy process, and

Eucharist was reserved for th e bodi es of

building of the Basilica did not b egin until

sa ints. W e do not know how Philip or

1575, although once started , it was com-

Charles b efor e him managed to negotiate

plete d in just under a decade. For more

permission from th e Jeron ymite monks to

than twenty years, the domed ch ap el and

bury th e e mperor in this spot, or even if

the sm all burial vault had rem ai n ed part of

th ey did so; Philip may simply h ave

*"Because I have determined that the royal bodi es of the emperor and king my lord and father, and of the empress and queen my lady and mother, and of the rest that are deposited in yo ur care in the sa id monastery should be taken and moved from where th ey are now to the vault below th e main altar of the main church, which is th e place that I order chosen for th eir burial, not withstan din g th at, acco rding to the dispositions of th e letter of foundation and endowm ent that I authorized on the 22nd of April of th e previous year of 1567, it is ordered that this should be in the vault beneath the sanctuary [ca pilla mayor]."

75

ord ered it, as in the document quoted

Ti m l-I ABSBU RG CENOTA P11 s

h ere. If hi order cam e as a surprise to th e

C h arles V envision ed the spl endid , virtual

monks, then it was an extraordinary display of ro yal power. Charles V was buri ed like

world of Titian 's painting trans posed to the physical realm of sc ulpture, but it is diffi-

a saint, and , like th e other relics in th e

cult for us to imagin e th e realization of

Basili ca, his presenc e vvas invisibl e. Th e

su ch a monument. A statu e of the barefoot

plain coffin, \,vith only a scrap of parchment insid e to identify th e phys ical

empero r C h arles V wearing only a bed sh eet, n ot to m ention a similar statu e of th e

remains, conceals the body as th e va ult

empress, is an extrao rdinary image . I know

conceals th e coffin.

of n othing like it in the sixteenth century.

Because the pos ition of the body of

Diel Philip eve n cons ider it? W as h e possi-

Charles V was spatially linked to th e

bly saving th e crypt for su ch a m anifesta-

Eucharist, another constraint Vi as placed

tion ? We will probably n ever know his

upon th e architecture. Juan Bautista's

intentions. But h e could not h ave used the

section drawing showed the vault directly below the m ain altar in a semicircular apse.

crypt to fulfill Charl es V's wish es without

In H errera's engraving of the fin al building,

th e crypt, and this was impossible if fun eral

several ch anges had taken place : the apse

m asses were to b e sa id fo r th e rest of the

h ad b ecome rectangular and a sm all room and st aircase h ad b een inserted b ehind

dyn asty and in th e presen ce of the king.

Philip did n ot easily set asid e the wish es

the retable . Th e vault of the empty crypt

of his fa ther, but Catholic Reform notions

seem ed to h ave been lowered, and the bur-

of propriety and n evi ritual dem ands m ay

ial vault appeared to h ave b een enlarged

h ave prevented strict obedien ce. With

and m oved westward , although it is difficult

regard to the effi gies of th e emp eror and

to be certain that th ese \Vere alterations and

empress, Philip chose to ob ey the spirit

not m erely differences in the degree of

rather than the letter of his fath er's instruc-

precision in the drawings. If there were changes to th e design of the burial va ult,

tions and commem orated the emperor full y

they required , or were allowed by, the rais-

statues were to play.

moving the m ain altar of th e Esc orial into

dressed . In doing so, h e revised the roles th e

ing of the level of the retabl e and th e addi-

Titian 's Trinity is a dyn astic as well as a

tion of a second set of four steps leading to the altar. This forced the concealment of

religious image, but its rhetoric is primaril y religious. Th e emperor seem s to h ave

th e b ases of th e D oric pilasters on the side

treated the painting as an image of his ovm

walls n earest th e retable. Alterations to the

fa ith and h ope fo r salvation . Although glori-

design ab ove and below ground m ay h ave been planned simultaneously or sequen-

fi ed b eyond all m easure by the h eavenly setting in whi ch they find them selves, C h arles

tially b etween 1567 and 1570, wh en the

V and his fa mily approach the Trinity

empty ch ap el was b eing vaulted, but it is

humbly and gratefully as well as joyously,

obvious that sa n ctuary and buri al va ult

and the emperor clea rly wanted to dupli-

were interdep endent.

cate this as pect of the painting in th e m onu-

death should forego being decorated in body and adopt the sober decorum of the church" (and I might add that "decorum" includes being fully dressed). In aggressively reasserting the doctrine of purgatory, however, the Council of Trent did nothing to discourage the performance of masses for souls of the dead. Statues of the Spanish Habsburgs attend the masses being said for them at the E sc orial. They are donors in a reciprocal relationship , givers of the gift they receive. The statue of a living donor, whose prestige, power, wealth, and moral authority in secular life are made visible in such representations, allows the donor to b ecome an example of piety. At the Fig. 8. Cenotaphs of Charles V and his family

Escorial, where the statues represent Philip

in th e sanctuary of the Bas ili ca. (Photograph

and other ruling members of the family, it is

by the author. )

legitimate to see them, as most historians do, as the embodiment of the I-Iabsburg

ment for Yuste. Pompeo Leoni's statues for

dynasty and its mission as the defenders

the cenotaphs in the Basilica shifted the

of the Church. Other relatives, such as

emphasis from personal salvation to dynastic

Philip's infant children, his dead brother,

power (fig. 8). No longer alone \Vith his wife in th eir shrouds, Charles V was not only arrayed in imperial splendor but accompani ed by the most illustrious m embers of his famil y, including his succ essor, Philip II, and the qu eens of Spain (fig. 9) .

The continuity of the dynasty into the futur e was symbolically represented by Philip's first-born son, Don Carlos . Above both sculptural groups are magnific ent coats of arms, and we know that the back walls behind the sculptural groups were, at one time, supposed to be fill ed with h eraldic shields of th e H absburgs.25 Catholic Reformers may h ave agreed

Fig. 9. The main altarpi ece and cenotaphs of

with the Milan synod that "Those who

Philip II and hi s fa mil y in the sa nctuary of the

would like to be placed [in the church ] in

Basilica. (Photograph by th e author. )

77

and his half-brother, Don Juan of Austria, vvho were also buried at the Escorial, are

world where only th e soul can go.

The H absburg effigies take th eir place as

not shown. The stunning epitaphs b ehind the figures and the huge coats of arms

actors in th e drama b efore us. The Basilica was meant to b e an architectural sh ell for

above them thus reinforce th e glory of the

its living audience who were also actors:

Spanish Habsburgs, beginning with the

the pri ests officiating at th e mass, the

unsurpassable accomplishment of th e emperor, and address the bodies of futur e

monks invisibl e but audible in th e choir, and the king and royal family invisibl e in

Habsburgs:

their oratories offstage. Th e statu es of th e Spanish Habsburgs joined this setting as

Thou, who among the descendants

additional participants. The space that was

of Charles the fifth sh alt surpass the glory

originally shaped for the living accommo-

of his ac tions, be this place thine, and

dates th em too , and th ey take on some of

only thine; ye others reverently keep

th e qualities of living actors and are por-

your distance. 26

trayed with the gestures of living persons.

The architecture does not confine th ese

EMBODIED S OULS

fi gures as it does the saints on th e altar-

Leoni's statue of th e empero r would seem

piece . They emerge sli ghtly from th eir

to b e the su ccessor to Titian's Trinity por-

niches as th ey kneel at prie-clieu , which

trait and a replacem ent for the statu e that

are set slightly forward of the columns

was supposed to be based on it. Bareh eaded

of the stage . Th ey appea r to move as real

in perp etual adoration, Charles V gazes

persons would in th e space of th e Basilica .

upon the Eucharist on the main altar as his

Positioned wh ere we might expect to catch

alabaster version would h ave clone in Yuste.

a glimpse of the royal fa mily (th eir backs

But does Leoni's st atu e of th e emperor, and

can just barely b e seen from th e entran ce

by extension the other statues, also repre-

to th e Basili ca), kneeling as we might

sent th e embodied so uls we see in Titian's

imagine them in prayer, costum ed and

painting? This is not an easy question to

individuali zed as th ey were in life, the

answer. Many late Medieval and Rena is-

statu es look like stand-ins for th e reigning

sanc e tombs represe nt th e deceased as

kings and queens con cealed in the oratories

awake and alive, most often kneeling in prayer in a way that seems to commem o-

b elow th em.

C h arles Vis meticulously individual-

rate their past life as much as anticipate

ized. His features, costum e, and h eraldry

th eir destiny in the Beyond . Any portrait

describe him in life, but, like all th e oth er

figure wh o is shown alive and praying above

statu es, h e is entirely gild ed. Philip origi-

a tomb, h owever, is implicitly an image of

n ally ordered natural coloring for th e fig-

that person after death, an image of life

ures of saints on the altarpiece. In 158 1 or

beyond the tomb , and h en ce an embodied

1582, h e decided to gild th em, but h e

so ul. 27 Like th e emperor in Titian's Trinity,

retained natural coloring for the h ands and

Leoni's figure h as passed into anoth er

faces of th e I-Iabsburg portraits. These we re

originally to h ave b een m arbl e, but bronze

les hauts faits qu 'ils ont autrefois accomplis

was substituted so that th ey \Vould m atch

clurant leur vie-e t cette raison en elle-

the statu es on th e altarpiece . Only in th e

m em e justifi erait de proposer la realite

fin al stages of the work, and to the d esp air

nue e t clepouillee de parures - , et cl 'autre

of his sculptor L eoni, did h e ord er th ese

part, les h auts fa its qu 'ils acco mplissent

effi gies to b e gild ed , too .28

m aintenant qu'ils sont clans les cie ux.

Gilding altered th e presen ce of these fi g-

Puisque Jes sa ints a l'oeuvre clans le ciel,

ures. The portrait effigies had already tran s-

comme ch ac un sa it, jouissent de ja d' une

ferred individuality from the earthly body,

immense gloire, tout l'or et ]'argent, les

hidd e n a nd almost an o n ymous in its plain

pi erres precieuses, les cierges, les vetem ents,

coffin, and invested it entirely in th e spiri-

les couronnes clont on les emb ellit n e

tual realm . Th e final gilding of the hands

sa uraient suffire a cl ec rire la m oinclre

and fa ces m ade th e sense of this change

parcell e de la gloire qu e Dieu leur

explicit: these ca nnot b e earthly bodi es .

procligu e clans la vie eternelle. â&#x20AC;˘29

These are, and look like, the souls of kings.

Gold is a sign of h eaven , and, as in ear-

Gilding appears to elevate th e bodi es of

lie r Spanish Renaissance altarpi e c es, th e

the Spa nish H absburgs to th e same onto-

statu es of the saints and holy fi gures in

logical st atus, although not to the sam e

th e san ctu ary of th e Escorial b elong to

ra nk, as th e saints on th e altarpi ece whose

the Beyond. Th e Ca tholi c Reform write r

space they ve ry n early sh a re. This relation-

Mola nus (Jean van d er M eul en ) vigorously

ship is c onveyed by th e architecture of the

argu e d for the ancient significa n ce of

cenotaphs, whi ch continu es the composi-

gold in his d efense of religiou s images in

tion , leve l, style, m ate rials, and \Vo rkman -

16 17. Answering Protesta nt c riti cism s, h e

ship of the alta rpi ec e .30 El evated , the

de clare d :

H absburgs are above th e living, even above th e officiating pri est at th e altar, on the

Ansi, il es t evident que c'est pour les m otifs

level of the E u ch arist so that they app ear

les pl us profoncls que l' eglise a ete am enee

to b elon g in the wo rld of th e sa ints on th e

a recouvrir cl' or et cl 'argent plusieurs

altarpiece. Pa inters a nd sc ulptors v,rere

images des sa ints, a les orner de couronnes

alwa ys ca reful to diffe rentiate th e p ortrait of

et de vetem ents precieux. E n effet, le

a d on or from h oly fig ures, the diffe ren ce

im ages des sa ints presentent, cl' un e part,

b etwe en earthly and visiona ry realities . At

*"It is eviden t that it is fo r profo und reasons tha t th e C hurch has chosen to cover the images of many saints in gold and silver, to ornamen t them with crowns and precious stones. In effec t, th e images of the sa in ts represent, on the one hand , the worthy deeds that they accomplished during th eir li ves (and th is reason in itself would justi fy proposing naked and un adorned reality) and, on the other, th e worth y deeds th at th ey accomplish now that they are in I-leaven. Because the sain ts at work in Heaven, as eve rybody kn ows, already enj oy an imm ense glory, all th e gold and sil ver, precio us stones, candles, ves tm ents, and crowns with which we embellish th em would be insufficient to describe the leas t part of the glory th at Goel lavishes upon them in their eternal life."

79

the Escorial, th ese distinctions are very n early effaced so the I-Iabsburgs can appear to be supplicants who, if not intercesso rs like the saints, at least appear to inhabit an otherworldy space.

In the sixte enth century,

1olanus still

associated gold with th e transfiguration of the temporal into th e celestial \vorld inside a church. Ouoting

icolas Sanders, he

wrote: Le Temple de Dieu est une fi gure et une image des cieux. Ce qui se trouve clans les templ es des chreti ens doit done correspondre

a ce qui est clans les cieux.

L'apotre Paul lui-meme declara que clans le Templ e de Salomon, le saint des sa ints

Fig. 10. San ctuary of the church of La Purfsima,

prefigurait le sanctuaire celes te ....

Salamanca. (Photograph by th e author. )

Ouand le chreti en s'ava nc e ver l' eglise, il doit done prendre conscience qu'il

within the space of the sanctuary so that

s'avan ce vers une so rte de ciel terrestre,

the mass appears to be enacte d in a realm

ol:1 Dieu emplit toute sa maison de telle

beyond this world. This may b e th e reason

maniere que sa gloire apparaisse

a toute

la multitude, et ol:1 les sa ints se tienn ent rendus participants de la gloire divine par

that Philip II forbade any layperson , even a king, from ascending the steps to the altar.

The idea that th e space of the church

la grace. Le chretien ne doit assurernent

is a simulac rum of h eaven may be as old

rien blamer de ce qu' il verra ajo uter aux

as Christianity, but the sanctuary of the

sa intes images .... C e n'est done pas un

Basilica represe nted it in a new \Vay. The

gaspillage . .. mais un puissa nt secours

no velty of Philip's exaltation of his dynasty

pour le salut. "31

in a religious setting 1ies in the manner of its visualization as a stag cl display. The

Radiant with splendor, the H absburg effigies h elp to relocate the celestial world

n early contemporary project for th e funerary ch apel of the Valois dynasty attached

*"The Templ e of God is a figure and image of Heaven. Whatever is found in the templ es of C hristians ought therefore to correspond to what is in Heaven. The apos tl e Paul himself declares that, in the Templ e of Solomon, th e holy of holies prefigures th e celestial sanctuary.... \i\!hen th e Christian advances toward th e church, he ought to be a\\ are that he moves toward a sort of ea rthly I-leaven, where God fill s all His house in such a way th at IIis glory appears to th e whole multitude, and wh ere the sa ints, through gra ce, are present as participants in di vine glory. The Christian should surely condemn nothing that he sees added to holy images .. .. This is not a waste ... but a powerful ass istance to our salva tion."

So

to the basilica of Saint D enis outside Paris

embodies Catholic belief, although it

was dedica ted to the Resurrec tion. The

certainly do es thi ; it is even more a

tomb of H enri II and Catherine de M edicis v.ras placed in the center of the centrally

place where bodies and architecture together n egotiate a satisfactory resolu-

planned chapel. The royal effi gies, placed

tion to th e contending desires of th e

above recumbent transi, kn eel in prayer

Church and its H absb urg benefactors.

and face the main altar. The theme and design is, in many ways, parallel to the plan

FROM CRYPT TO P ANTHEON

of the san ctuary at th e Escorial, but the

I pose one last qu estion concerning bodies

celestial world to which th e king and queen

in th e design of vvhat ultimately was con-

belong is not made visible to us as sp ecta-

stru cted as th e Basili ca. Diel th e stru cture

tors. Later funerary compositions often

that I have disc usse d rep resent Philip II's

relinquish ed the attempt to make th e

final intentions for th e burial of his father,

Beyond visible to us and chose to bring

or did he leave the Escorial unfinish ed ?

the h eavenly to earth. In the interior of

Virtually all historians beli eve that Philip

La Purfsima in Salamanca, Rib era's image

meant to transform the unused chap el

of the Virgin Immaculate in the altarpiece

b en eath the san ctuary, which Sigli en za

seem s to fill the church with h er bodily

says h e had originally intended as th e bur-

presen ce as the effigy of Don Manuel de Fonseca y Zuniga, co unt of Monterrey,

ial place of Charles V, into a burial chap el similar to th e present Panth eon , which was

recoils in astonishment at the apparition

completed by his grandso n , Philip IV (fi g.

that interrupts his prayers (fi g. 10 ).

11 ). 33 According to this view, Philip II

Unlike other fun erary effi gies, th e

would have intended the burials in th e

I-Iabsburgs in th e Escorial seem b oth dea d and alive. Their rigid, golden bodies mimic life but see m to exist convincingly b eyo nd our world. In su ggesting both life and death, they unl eash multiple m eanings, just as th e m aterials, light, and spatial effects in the Basilica do. Catholic doctrine is not easy to visu alize, but from the point of view of do ctrine, there was no n eed for fun erary effi gies at all.3 2 The n eeds of a dead body, which th e emperor and his son fe lt so strongly, drew upon a wider set of beliefs and fee lings about the body and personal id entity, beliefs that Cath olic Reformers often deplored but needed to accommodate

Fig. 11. Section of the Pantheon below th e

if the C hurch was to retain its power. The

sanctuary of th e Basilica. (After F. de Los

sanctuary is thus not simply a space that

Santos, Descripci611 , 165 7.)

vault ben eath the altar to b e te mporary. But,

Exec utose assi, y se repartio en tres

m oving the bodies to the ch ap el wo uld h ave

Cafiones, qu e toman toda la M esa, que

m eant removing the body of Charles V from

esta encima de la G radas primeras del

the place h e h ad requested and been given

Altar; a dond e por enton ces quiso se

ben eath the m a in altar. F urthe rmore, there

trasladasse n los C uerpos Reales. M as sin

is no evide n ce that wh en Philip II placed

duda no tom o se me jante resolucion , para

the coffins of his fath er and relatives in the

qu e fu esse la ultima: porque salio esta obra

sm all va ult under th e m ain altar of the

tan estrech a, y de tan poco bu elo, respeto

Basilica, a nd wh en h e ordered that his own

de las estendidas a las de sus intentos: qu e

coffin b e put n ext to his fath er's (v,rhich was

no es possible fu esse a SU gusto; Sino para

clon e after Philip's d eath on Septe mber 13,

qu e ponfendo alli los C uerpos Reales,

1598), h e imagined their m oving aga in.

estuviessen com o en deposito, hasta tanto

H ad h e \;<,rish ed to relocate th em , we wo uld

qu een la Iglesia, o Capilla mas p rofund a,

h ave exp ected him to leave instructions fo r

se all anauan las dific ultades, dandole

this in his testam ent and c odicil, as h e did

me jor disposicion ; que aunqu e se hall aron

for every other d etail concerning his fa m -

las quevimos, era la que estava elegida

ily's and his ovm interme nts; we might also

para el proposito. *H

have exp ected Jose d e Sigu en za, who was well informed about everything else, to

L os Sa ntos did n ot say that Philip

speak of futur e plans fo r the ch apel. T h ere

intend ed to build th e Pa nth e on, only that

is nothing in th e sixteenth-century sources

h e must h ave clon e so. T h e va ult was not

about transferring th e bodies to the ch ap el.

too sm all for th e b odi es that Philip put

In 1656, h owever, Fray Fran cisco d e

th e re, b ut it was ce rta inly too sm all to con-

Los Santos publish e d a d escripti on of th e

t a in all th e b odi es of fu ture H absburg

Escorial, base d on Sigu e n za's acco unt, to

kings and qu een s vvh o might b e exp ecte d

whic h h e add ed a d eta ile d acc ount of th e

to reign a nd eventually b e buri ed at th e

n ew Panth eo n and a n explan ation of its

Esco rial. Co rn elia vo n d e r O ste n Sacke n

on grn :

a rgu e d that the ch apel was supe rfluo u s b eca u se th e cen otaph s transfo rme d th e

Y asi m and o, que entre esta Iglesia, o

wh ole Basilica into a fu n e ra ry church . But

Capill a baxa, y entre la Principal, y alta,

Philip may well h ave left to hi so n th e

se hiziesse vna Bobeda, qu e vfni esse a estar

arra n gem ent of a burial c h ap el fo r futur e

el medi o della, debaxo del Altar Mayor.

H absburgs. Los Santos suggests as mu ch

*"He [Philip II ] gave orders fo r building a va ul t betwee n this chapel [th e unde rground crypt] and the pri ncipal church, direc tly u nd er th e ma in altar. T his was accordingly exec uted and consisted of three ranges, conta ining th e whole space of th e plane from the first steps of th e altar, and this was the repository, wh ither th e roya l corpses were to be removed, but, doubtl ess, somethi ng more was in tended, as th is, bes ides being too small , did no t in th e leas t correspond with the exalted ideas of tha t mo narch who certainl y in tended it for no thi ng more th an a tempora ry receptacle, till the ob jec ti ons aga inst the lower chapel were removed, so as to make it both light and conven ient."

when h e reports Philip II as saying:

Ya bolauan por el mundo las noticias de la 1arauilla de Espafia, y de lo prodigioso de

Oue el avia h echo habitacion para Dios;

SU

que su Hijo , si quisiesse, la haria para sus

ve nian muchos de diuersos Reinos, y

Hu essos, y los de sus Padres. â&#x20AC;˘ 35

Provincias, a lle uar admiracion es; y co mo

Fabrica; ya la voz, y ruido de

SU

fama,

en el todo, y en qualquiera de las partes The cenotaphs in the Basilica were

de es te sumptuoso Cuerpo, h allauan el

definitive; the statu e groups and th eir

alm a de tanta conformidad, y perfeccion,

insc riptions leave no doubt that th ere could

h az ian nou edad , que no la tuuiesse el

be no more gilde d Habsburgs in the sanctu-

Entierro de tan gloriosos Monarchas.

ary, ,,vh e re even th e h eraldic shields were

Espa ntauanse de verlos a ta corto espacio

eliminated. The conversion of th e empty

reduzidos, aiendo siclo los qu e clilataro n

chapel into a burial chapel was thus a solu-

la cristianidad , zelosos del mayor Imperio

tion to the real probl em of vvhere future

de la Iglesia.

*36

Habsburg kings and queens would b e buri ed. That Philip II may well have fore-

The Pantheon returned H absburg glory

seen this do es not m ean , however, that h e

to historical time and refoc used th e celebra-

envisioned the transfer of his own and his

tion of the dynasty upon their ea rthly bod-

family's bodies to the Pantheon.

ies. This required altering, relocating, and

The ultimate d es ign of the Pantheon,

rearranging the coffins. Philip's grandson ,

for Philip IV, was certainly differe nt from

Philip IV, moved the m out of the burial

Philip II's las t known d ecision on th e buri-

vault into th e mortuary jewel box that h e

als. Philip II , like Charles V, chose to draw

created from the unused chapel. The bodies

th e contrast betwee n phys ical d eath and

we re removed from their plain, an on ymous

spiritual life as strongly as possible, but by

coffins and placed in reliquary caskets.

th e mid-seventeenth century, th e voluntary

Originally align ed with th e altar and

anonymity of the H absb urg burials seemed

arranged outward from the central body of

ind ecent. The holy place und er th e altar

Charles V, the bodies were distributed in a

no longer justifi e d their invisibility and

new pattern. The bodi es of all but the kings

Los Santos found th e burial vault "a n

and queens were removed and the remain-

unworth y sepulchre." Speaking of th e

ing caskets were arranged according to gen-

Escorial, h e wrote:

d er, with male bodies to the right of the

*"I have bui lt a hab itation for the Almighty, and my son, if he pleases, may build another for his remains and those of his forefa th ers." **"Th e fame of th e astonishing structure, th e vastn ess of its dim ensions, th e grandeur of its architecture, and th e splendor of its decoration , drew an infinite number of persons of taste and distinction from all parts of Europe , who amidst th eir raptures and applause cou ld not con ceal their astonishm ent at the meanness of the sepulchre, which contained such glorious monarch s, that they who had so expanded the bounds of th e Christian world , should be confined in so narrow, so mean a repository."

The triumphant imagery tha t Philip II reserved for the souls of the Spanish Habsburgs in the sanctuary thus was reinvested in lhe remains of their bodies in Lhe Pantheon, which b ecame, in Los Santos's \Vords: lugar d e la muerte de Princip es ta Catolicos, q aunq por su falta en tristecieron, y obscu recie r6 al rnundo: p or su s h e roycas virtud es le alegrar6,

e ilustraron; y esta alegria ,

a un el mismo Sepulcro la h a de estar represendando: pues mas alla d e sus limites se coronan las virtudes d e seme jantes H e ro es. â&#x20AC;˘37 Fig. 12. Tombs of the Spanish Habsburg kings in the Pantheon. (Photograph by th e author. )

altar and female to the left of it, mirroring the placem ent of the relics of the sa ints in the reliquary altars in the Basilica. Finally, the bodi es were reclassified according to human time, stacked vertically in a chronological se qu e nc e d escending from th e grea tn ess of Charles V an d Isab ella to th e p enultima te Spanish H absburg (fi g . 12).

*"The burial place of the Ca th ol ic Monarchs, who, although th eir passing sadd ened and darkened the world, th eir heroic virtues diffused gladness through th e ea rth, and light through the darkness; a light and glad ness of wh ich their ve ry sep ulchre should be an emblem; as beyond th e ga tes of dea th is the region where such heroes receive their fin al recompense."

I would like to than!< the editor, Jonathan Brown, Henri Zemer, Rachel Zemer, and my colleagues and students at Brown University for their helpful criticism and comments at various stages of the preparation of this article.

1. The bibliograph y on th e Escorial has grown enormously over the last decade. See George Kubler, Building the Escorial (Princeton , 1982); and Agustin Bustamante Garcia, El Octavo maravilla del mundo

(Estudio hist6rico sabre El Escorial de FelifJe II) (Madrid , 1994) for th e history and earlier bibliograph y.

Pedro Navascues Palacio's El Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Madrid , 1994) (including an English translation ) is an excellent introduction . My Ju an de Herrera, Architect to Philip II of SfJain (New Haven and London , 1993) treats Philip's role in the building. Tridentine aspects of the program are exa mined in studi es by Cornelia von d er Osten Sacken, San Loren;::.o el Real de El Escorial: Stuclien wr Baugeschichte uncl Ilwnologie (i\/Iunich, 1979), trans. Marfa Dolores Abalos as El Escorial, Estuclio Iconol6gico (i\/Iadrid , 1984); and by Rosema ri e Mulcahy, A la mayor gloria de Dias y el rey: La deco-

("That it wil l be well first to examine what things are necessary to it and how they will be once the work is con sid ere d completely finished, with all the arrangements that it requires, and these cons ide rations by persons who are experienced and know what a temple like this needs to be well served and provided with what is n ecessa ry for everything for th e divine se rvices th a t are to be held in it.")

Quoted in Alfonso Rodrigu ez G. de Ceballos and Antonio Casaseca y Casaseca, "Juan cl el Ribero Rada y la introclucci6n clel clasicismo en Salamanca y Zamora," in Herrera y el clasicismo (Valladolid, 1986),

95-109.

3. Alfonso Rodrig uez G. de Ceballos, "Liturgia y config uraci6n cl el espacio e n la arquitectura espafiola y portuguesa a ra iz cl el Concilio de Trento," Amwrio

clel Departamento de Historia y Teorfa clel Arte, Universiclad Aut6noma de !Vlaclricl 3 ( 1991 ): 4 3-5 2.

4. See Earl Rosenthal, The Cathedral of Granada (Princeton, 1962); Fernando Marfas, "D e Iglesia a ternplo: Notas sobre la arquitectura rel igiosa clel siglo .\'VI," in Seminario sabre arquitectura imfJerial, eel. Ignacio Cuellar (Granada, 1988), 113-36. William Eisler, "C harl es\! and the Cathedral of Granada," Journal

of the Society of Architectural Historians 51 (1992): 174- 81, rej ects the idea of burials in th e rotunda and

racion de la real basilica clel Nlonasterio de El Escorial (Madrid, 1992), trans. Consuelo Luca de Tena as The Decoration of the Royal Basilica of El Escorial (New York, 1994). The history of the I-Iabsburg cenotaphs has

argues that Charles\! and even Philip II plann ed to use the Royal Chapel in Granada as th e imperial mausoleum until 1559.

been treated in d etail by Agustin Bustamante Garcia, "Las estatuas de bronce d el Escorial: Datos para su historia (I)," Anuario clef Departamento de Historia y

5. Jose de Sigi_ienza, La Fundaci6n clel Monasterio de El Escorial par Felipe II (Madrid , 1605 ; reprint, Madrid , 1986), pt. 2, chap. 12, 306:

Teorfa del Arte, Universidad Aut6noma de Madrid 5 (1993): 41-5 7.

2. Juan de H e rrera , for example, writing to the can ons of Salamanca in 1589 about plans for the n ew cathedral: Que sera bien que primero se miren las cosas que en el son n ecessarias y c6mo an de quedar quando la obra se considere acabacla de toclo punto con las comocliclacles que a d e menester y le convienen y es tas resueltas por las personas que ti e n en pratica y saben lo que un templo como ese a m enester pa se r bien serbiclo y proveiclo de lo n ecesso pa las Cosas de las Divinos Officios que se an de freqlientar e n el.

D e esta manera hablaremos ahora de ella , Ila mfoclola una bas fl ica c u ad racla , porque ta! fue el inte nto de su clue fio: hacer una hermosa capilla para o ir los oficios clivinos, cloncl e se pucliesen celebrar rni sas y sac rifi c ios e n grancle num ero y dond e, como en capill a real, no pucliesen entrar inclifere m e nte todos .... Para la gente vulgar y clemas orclinarios se rvicios qu e puecle y su ele conc urrir, sirve abunclantemente el so tac oro, que es como c u e rpo de iglesia. ("So we will describe it now, calling it a squared basilica, because su ch was th e intention of its owner: to make a beautiful c hape l for h earing divin e se rvices, where one co uld celebrate grea t numbers of masses and sac rifi ces, and where, as in a royal c hapel, not everyon e could e nte r ind isc riminately.... For the com mon peopl e and ordin ary services which co uld a nd should lake pl ace, the sotacoro, whi c h is as the body of a churc h , is en tirely suffi c ie nt.")

6. Ibid. , chap. H, 336.

7. Matild e Lopez Serrano, Tra:::as de Juan de Herrera y svs segvidores /Jara el Monasterio del Escorial, vol. 1 of Cata.logo de Dibujos, Biblioteca de Palacio (Madrid , 19-+4), pl. H. Bustamante Garcia Octavo maravilla fig. 52, publish ed another perspe~tive study. ' 8. Fray Juan de San Geronimo, Memorias, in Colecci6n de Documentos ineditos /Jara la historia de Espafw, eel. Miguel Salva and Pedro Sainz de Barana, vol. 7 (Madrid , 18-+5). "Entrega d e las santas reliqui as a nuestro Padre Fray Juan de! Colmenar," 48ff, devotes a length y passage to describing th e ceremonies for the reception of some of th e relics in 1569. Sigi.ienza, Fundaci6n, treats th e reli cs at le ngth , describing how th ey came to the monastery (pt. 1, chap. 19, 160-68, "Las cuatro cajas de reliquias qu e vin ieron a San Lore n zo, la sole mne proces ion con que se recibi eron y la postrera venicla que Su IVlajestacl hi zo a esta su casa"); how reli cs were brought out for Philip to see and to ki ss during hi s last illn ess (pt. 1, chap. 20, esp. 175-78); and what reli cs were owned by th e Escorial (pt. 2, c hap. 16, 358-68, "Los reli carios de este templo, el nC1mero y nombre de sus reliquias y otros preciosos aclornos"). Th e bodies of sa ints were separate d according to gender and arranged on the sh elves.

9. See, for exa mpl e, th e inte resting study by Carlos M .

N. Eire, From Madrid to Purgatory: The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth-Centwy SfJCLin (Ca mbridge and New York, 1995), esp. bk. 2, sec. 1, "King Philip and I-Iis Palace of D ea th ," 255ff.

10 . The foundation le tte r is published in Docwnentos para la historia de! M onasterio de San Lorenzo el Real de El Escorial, eel. Juli an Zarco Cuevas, vol. 2 (Madrid , 191 7), 7 1-131. It is di scussed by two sixtee nth-century writers, Fray Juan de San Geronimo in his M emorias 7f, and by Sigi.ienza, Fundaci6n, pt. 1, chap. 1, 3-7: ' "El principio, los moti vos y fin es qu e el Rey don Felipe tuvo para eclifi ca r el Monasterio d e San Loren zo y entrega rlo a la Orden d e San Jeronimo."

11. Lopez Serrano, Cata.logo, pl. 2.

86

12. Sigi.ienza, Fundaci6n, pt. 1, chap. 14, 114: Tuvo su Maj es tad al principio d e esta fabrica inte nto d e hacer un como cem entario de los antiguos, doncl e estuviesen los cuerpos reales sepultaclos y cloncle se Jes hiciesen los oficios y mi sas y vigi li as, como en la primitiva Igles ia sesolfan hace r a Jos martires, cloncl e celebran SUS memorias, y doncl e, tambi en por mi edo a los prin cipes paganos, se escondian los c ristianos a los oficios ya sus sinaxis, y apages, misas y conventos, o Cofracl ias y colectas santas, y asi se hi zo aqui cl ebajo de tierra, )'e n los mas hondos cimientos, una iglesia recloncla con su capa o cupula proporc ionacla, doncl e pudiese estar asentaclo el altar, y una tribuna , d e doncl e se hi c iese el oficio frontero del altar, y por los ]ados concavidacles donde se pusiese n los ataC1des o cajas d e marmol o de otras piedras. Bajaban aqui clesde el altar mayor d e la iglesia principal por dos ca racoles secretos, y sin estos, otras dos escaleras claras y llanas, qu e responcl e n , la un a, al convento y sacristfa, y la otra, a la casa Real: una arquitectura d e pi eclra labrada , harto capaz y d e mucha grandeza y nobleza para este efec to. Mudo clespues el funclaclor este intento.

Pareciol e que estaba mu y distante, tri ste y clificultoso de ir y ven ir allf, y que tendrfa tambien no se que inclecen cia andar por e ntre los ataC1cles, y otras con sid eraciones se m e jantes, y asf mando qu e entre esta iglesia o cap illa baja y entre la principal y altar se hiciese una boveda que vin iese a estar e n meclio de ella, clebajo del altar mayo r, y asf se hizo y se repartio en tres caiiones qu e tornan tocla la m esa que esta enc ima d e las gra das prim eras de! altar. ("When I-Ii s Maj esty began th e bui lding, h e inte nd ed to make som e thing like a n ancient cemetery, where the roya l bod ies would be buried and where the offices, masses, and vigi ls would be performed, as was clon e for m a rtyrs in th e ea rl y c hurches, where th ey celebrated th eir m e m ory, and where, also for fear of th e paga n authorities, th e Chr istians hid th e ir meals 1 masses conve nts or confratern iti es and colectas santas; ~ncl thus l~e had a c irc ular c hurch made underground and in th e deepest foundations [of th e building], a church with its dome proportionate, where the altar could be placed and a tribun e, from whence service could be h eld in front of th e alta r, and , on th e sid es, con caviti es where the coffins or caske ts of marbl e or other mate rial co uld be placed. From the m ai n altar in th e prin cipal church , one d escend ed to this place b y two sec re t c irc ular staircases, and bes id es th ese, two other broad and

straight sta irways that corresponded, one to th e convent and sac ri sty, the other to th e royal palace: an architecture entirely of c ut ston e, capacious and of great nobility and grand eur for its purpose.

Later, th e founder changed his mind. It seemed to him th at [th e Chapel] was very far, depress ing, and th e going and coming excess ively diffi c ult, and that it might be ind ece nt in some way to walk among th e coffins, and other similar consi dera ti ons and so he ord ered that between thi s church or l~wer chapel, and the altar of th e main churc'h a va ult should be built in th e middl e, below th e 'main altar, and thi s was clone and di vid ed into three sections that take up th e whole landing that is beyo nd the first steps to the altar.")

Philip may not have known much about the Roman catacombs (although by th e 1590s, Sigi..ienza could have), but he might have been thinking of Early Christian martyrs' church es such as Saint Lawrence outside th e Walls in Rome, which had a burial crypt.

13. See Ian Fenlon, Music and Patronage in SixteenthCentwy Mantua (New York, 1990), 95-98.

14. See Alfonso Rodriguez G. de Ceballos, Bartolome de Bustamante y las orfgenes de la arquitectura jesuftica en Espm'i.a, Biblioteca Instituti Historici S. I. (Rom e, 1967), 27: 343, doc. xv, for a description of th e Tavera proj ect in 1552, and Fernando Marfas, Arquitectura clel Renacimiento en Toledo (1541 - 163 1), 4 vols. (Toledo, 1983-1989).

15 . Sacrorwn Conci liorwn nova et ampliccima collectio, eel. J. D. Mansi, 51 vols. (Paris and Leipzig, 1902-1927), vol. 34, Conciliwn Mecliolanensis (1565), chap. 1, lxi, "De Sepulturis." Th ere is a useful summary of ea rli er Church law on burial in Antoine Bernard , La Sefntlture en clroit canonique du Decret de Gratien au Concile de Trente (Pa ris, 1933). These concerns were also voiced at other synods and by Jea n van cl er M eul en (see note 29 below) .

16. The classic studi es are by Philippe Aries, L'Homme clevant la mart, 2 vols. (Paris, 1977); Jacques Chiffoleau, La Comptabilite de /'au Deli1: les hommes, la mart et la religion clans la region cl'Avignon 21 la fin du moyen age (vers 1320-vers 1480) (Rome, 1980); and Pierre Chaunu , La Mort a Paris){\!!", XVIIâ&#x20AC;˘ et A.'VIIF siecles (Paris, 1975). Further bibliography is reviewed by D. L. cl 'Avray, "Some Recent Work on the History of Death," excursus in Death and the Prince: Memorial Preaching before 1350 (Oxford , 1994), 177-84. The coll ec ti on of Spanish sources in E ire, From Madrid to Purgatory, is very useful.

17. Jose cl e Si gi..ien za, I-Iistori a de la orclen de San Geronimo (reprint, Madrid, 1909), chap. 40, "La Mu erte de el Emperaclor Carlos Quinto, y algu nas cosas de particular consicleracfon qu e sucecli eron en ell a," 161 , was ca reful to reassure his readers that Charles had not been buried like a sa int at Yuste.

The body was placed en vna caxa de pl orno cl entro de vna macl era, sin abirle ni tocar a el mas de con las saba nas y li enc;:os; embuelto, porque ansi lo cl ex6 orclenaclo el mismo Emperaclor. Desbarataron los oficiales el altar mayor, y ensancharonl e haz ia fuera , porqu e clebaxo clel ya las espalclas cl el mismo estuui esse clepositaclo, de suerte que ni la custoclia ni el altar estuui essen encim a, sin o clelante, porque solo se reserua para cuerpos de los sa ntos que la iglesia ti ene canonizaclos y para sus reliquias, tan alta preeminencia, que esten clebaxo clel mismo altar. (" in a lea d coffin insid e a wooden one, without opening it or touching it, more th an with th e sheets and wrappings, wrapped up as th e emperor himself had ordered. The workmen rese t th e main altar, extending it furth er away beca use [th e bod y] might be deposi ted direc tl y und er and at the edges of the altar so th at neith er th e tab ernacle of the h ost nor th e altar would be over [th e body], but in front of it instead because th e preemin en t place directly under th e altar is reserved for th e bodies of sain ts whom th e C hurch h as canoni zed and for th eir reli cs.")

18. "La cupola baja la iglesia va cerranclo," on January 30, 1570, quoted in Bustaman te Garcia, Octavo maravilla, 137. Juan de Herrera, "Secci6n longitudinal de! templo, palacio y convento," in Sunwrio y breve

cleclaraci6n de las clisefios y estamfJas de la fabrica de san Lorencio el Real clel Escurial (Madrid, 1589), pl. 5 of Las EstamfJas de la Fabrica de San Lorencio el Real de El Escorial, engraved by Pedro Perret. Th e legend in cludes: "B. Luga r de enti erro de cuerpos Reales; C. Capill a clebaxo de ti erra y de la Capilla y altar mayor."

19. See note 16 above and Jacques Le Goff, La aissance du Purgatoire (Paris, 198 1), which consid ers th e evoluti on of th e doctrin e to th e tim e of Dante.

20. Antoni o Gallego y Burin, La CafJilla Real de Granada (Madrid , 1953); A. Garrido Aranda , "La Capilla Real de Granada en el siglo XVI ," Homenaje al Dr. D. Juan Reg/a Cam/Jistol, 2 vols. (Val encia, 1975), 1: 399-407; and F. Valladar y Serrano and P. Valladar y Serrano, La Capilla Real de Granada: Estvdio criticohistorico (Gra nada , 1892), 50-60, cited by Rosenth al, Cathedral of Granada, and Eisler, "Charl es V and the Cathedral of Cranada."

21. Charles's codicil is quoted by Fray Prud encio de Sandoval, Historia clel Emperaclor Carlos V, Rey de Espm?.a, 9 vols. (Madrid , 1847), 8-9: 293ff: Y asi mismo yo ordeno y mando , qu e en caso que mi ente rrami ento haya de se r en es te di c ho monasterio , se haga mi sepultura en medio de] altar mayor de la di cha iglesia y mon as terio en esta man era: que la mitad de los pechos a la cabeza fu era de!, de man era qu e c ualqui era sace rdote, que digere misa, ponga los pies sobre mi s pcch os y ca beza. Item, ordeno yes mi voluntad, qu e si mi enterra mi ento hubi e re de se r en cs te di cho monasterio, se h aga en el altar mayor de la Igles ia del un retablo de alabastro y medio reli eve de! tamafio qu e parec iere al rey ya mi s testamentarios, y conform e a las pinturas de una figura qu e esta mi a, que es del jui cio final de Ti ciano, qu e esta en pod er de Juan Martin Esteur, qu e sirvc en el oficio de mi guardajoyas, aiia di endo o quitando de aquello lo qu e vieren mas convenir. Y asi mismo se haga u na custodia de ala bastro o ma rmol conforme a lo qu e fu ere el di ch o retablo a la man o derecha del altar, qu e para subir en ell a haya hasta c uatro gradas para a dond e este el Santisimo Sacram ento , ya qu e los dos !ados de ell a se ponga el busto de la Emperatriz, y el mi o, que estemos de rodillas con las cabezas descubi ertas, los pi es desca lzos, cubi ertos los c uerpos como con send as sabanas de! mismo reli eve, con las man os juntas, co mo Luis Quijada mi mayord omo , y F. Juan Regla mi confesor, con quien lo h e comuni ca do, lo ti enen entendid o de mi . Y qu een caso qu e mi enterrami ento no haya de se r ni sea en este di cho monaste ri o, es mi voluntad , qu een luga r de la di cha custodia y retablo se haga un retablo de pince] de la man era que pareciere al rey mi hij o, ya mis testamentar ios, y asf lo ru ego y enca rgo.

("And so I order and co mmand that in th e event that my burial should be in thi s monastery, that my grave shall be made in th e middl e of th e mai n altar of th e church of thi s monastery in th e following mann e r: that [from ] th e middl e of th e ch es t to th e hea d [should lie ] outside of it, in such a way that whatever priest might be saying mass, will place his feet on my ch es t and hea d. Item, I order and it is my will that, if my [permanent] burial is to be in thi s monastery, that a retable altarpiece of alabaster with a bas-reli ef of the size that seems appropriate to th e king and my executors be mad e for th e main altar of the church, conforming to a painting of min e, which is th e Last Judgment by Titian , which is in th e custody ofJuan Martin Esteur, who is in charge of my treas ury, adding or taking away from th e painting whatever seems appropriate. And also that an alabaster or marble tabe rnacl e of the host should be made conforming to the stated retabl e altarpiece, on th e right sid e of th e altar, for which th ere should be up to four steps to ascend to where th e Hol y Sacrament is; and on eith er sid e of thi s should be pl aced a bust [s ic] of th e Empress and myself, showing us kn eeling, bareh ea ded and barefooted, our bodi es cloth ed in sheets as in th e relief, our hands join ed [in pra ye r], as Lui s Quijada , my hea d chamberl ain, and Fray Juan Regla , my confessor, with whom I have communi ca ted, have und erstood from me. An d in th e event th at my burial is not to be nor will be in thi s monastery, it is my wish that instead of th e stated tabe rna cle and retabl e altarpiece, a painted re table altarpiece shall be mad e in th e manner that seems appropriate to the king, my son, and to my exec utors, and so do I requ est and charge." ) C harl es is describing full-length statu es, although h e calls th em bustas.

22. Th e coffi ns of all th e dead Habsburgs were moved to th e Escorial in 1573 and 1574 and placed temporarily in a va ult under th e floor of th e iglesia de prestado.

This location as well as th e final placement of the bod ies in the va ult und er th e Basili ca in 1586 are described in detail by San Geronimo, 99-109, 407-11 .

San Geronimo's illustrations of th e place ment of th e coffins are reprodu ced in Bustamante Garcia, Octavo maravilla, fi gs. 25, 26, 27.

23. My translation of Philip's order, quoted by San Ge roni mo, 407f: "El Rey: Venerable y devotos padres prior y diputados de Sant Lorencio el Real qu e yo he fund ado y edifi cado ."

88

2-1-. Philip II , San Geronimo, a nd Sig i_ie n za all d esc ribe Charles's coffin as being "debajo de] altar." Sigi_icnza, Funclaci6n , c hap . 14, "La Capilla M ayor," 345: Po rgu e acabemos con nu es tra ca pilla mayor, recordare lo gu e dij e arriba: gu e d e bajo d e la m esa d el altar mayo r, entre ella y un a ca pilla reclonda gu e esta cl eba jo d e toclo el su elo, se h ace una pi eza gu e sirve d e po n e r las c u e rpos y a ta(1cles reales; es ta reparticl a e n tres coma callejon es d e b6vecla , y e ncima d e unos bancos d e macl e ra se atraviesan las ataucles. ("Beca use we are fini shing with th e description of th e sa n c tuary, I wi ll recall what I sa id above: that below th e landin g of th e main altar, b e twee n it a nd a circ ul a r c hapel that is below th e e ntire pavem e nt, a room was made in which to pla ce th e royal bodi es and coffin s. It is cli vicl ecl into three vaulte d sec tions with th e coffin s la id across wooden be n c h es.")

25. See Jehan L'H ermite, Le Passetemps, eel . Charles Ru elen s, 2 vols. (Antwerp, 1890), 2: 32: Vraye form e d es e nte rre m ens d e l'e mpe re ur C h arles le guint e t le Roy d on Ph elipe le cleux es m e e n la m esm e fac;:on gu 'ils se voye nt a u m esrne li e u clont cest Entre cleux est le li e u du grand a utel. ("True fo rm of the burials of Lh e e mpero r Charles th e Fifth and king Philip th e Second in th e way th ey are seen in pl ace which is b etween th e two [wh e re] th e main a ltar is.")

The paintings of this proj ect by Panto ja d e la Cruz and his assistants survive a t th e Escorial.

26. Sigi_ienza, Funclaci6n, 342-44, gives th e La tin text of th e insc riptions and Spanish translations that were used by Francisco d e las Santos, DescrifJCi6n breve clel

monasterio de S. Lorenzo el Real clel Escorial. vnica maravilla clef Mundo. fabrica clel prvclentissimo Rey Philipa Segundo aora nvevamente coronacla por el catholico Rey Philip Qvarto el Grande con la magestosa obra de la Capilla insigne del Pantheon y traslacion a ella de los cuerpos Reales (Mad rid , 1657; facsimile reprint, 1984), fols. 33-34v and trans . George Thompson, A Description of the Royal Palace and

Monastery of Saint Lawrence called the Escurial and of the ChafJel Royal of the Pantheon translated from the Spanish of Fray Francisco de los Santos, Chaplain to his Majesty Philip IV (Lon d on , 1760), 74-77, whi ch is c ited h e re.

Th e epitaphs on e ith er si d e of th e inscription id e ntifying th e sta tu es of th e emperor and his family read: "Thou, who a mong th e d escendants of Charles th e fifth shalt surpass th e glory of his actions, be this place thine, and only thine; ye others reverently keep yo ur distance" and "Of all th e a rms and d evices of th e lin eage a nd poste rity of Charles V, th e Roma n Emperor, h e re are th e few whic h co uld be conta ined in this narrow pla ce, and distinguished acco rding to th e ir seve ral degrees." In th e intercolu mnia tions behind th e emperor: "Th e provid ent care of posterity has left this plac e vacant fo r th e ben efit of th e future imperial offspring, wh o, through a long seri es of yea rs, sh all pay th eir final debt to nature ."

Los Santos makes no reference to th e impe rial dignity in th e Spanish : "El prouiclo c uiclaclo d e las clescenclie ntes, clexa este lugar vacio a las hij os, y ni etos, clespu es, gu e viuicl os muc h os aflos, pag uen la cleucla natural de la mue rte" (fol. 33v). Th e correspond ing inscripti ons on Philip's sid e read: "This void pla ce is by [s ic] him , who volunta rily d eclin ed it, reserved for th e most worthy of his progeny as th e recompense of his virtue; otherwise it will forever re m a in e m ply."

S iglienza, 344, g ives: "Este luga r gue aq uf qu ecla vacio, lo guarc16, gui en lo cl e j6 de su graclo, para el gu e d e sus clescencli entes fu e re m e jor en virtucl; d e otra suerte, ningu no lo ocupe," repea ted by las Santos, fol. 34.

Th e Latin rea ds: 1-l!C LOCUS DIGNIO RJ It TER POSTEROS, ILLO QUI VLTRO AD EO ABSTl UIT, VIRTUTJ ERGO ASSERVATUR, ALTER INMU t IS ESTO." The o th e r reads: "By a wise con ce rn for childre n , this pla ce has b een reserved for th e supe rb monuments of th e royal progen y, when they sh all submit to fate." In spite of thi s allus ion to future statu es, th e num ber of statues on th e e mperor's side had already been red uced by two, from seve n to fi ve, an d th e final compositions a re clearly d efiniti ve.

27. See Ari es, L'I-Iomme clevant la mort, and Philippe Ari es, Images de l'homme devcmt la mort (Paris, 19 3), trans. Ja n et Ll oyd as Images of Man and Death (Cambridge, Mass., 1985 ). H e nri Zerner, "Germain Pilo n et l'art fun era ire," in Germain Pilon et les sculpteurs franr;ais de la Renaissance, eel. Genevieve BrescBautier (Pa ris, 1993), 193-2 11 , has stressed th e importa n ce of this in th e tomb of H e nri II and Catherine d e M edi cis, n ow in Saint D e nis.

28. Th e contra c t for th e m emorial of Charles V does not survive, but it cannot have been earli e r than th e late 15 80s. Th e bron ze statu es of the m e morials are first mention ed in a paym e nt note in 1593 , by which time Leoni was already working on th e m . See von de r O sten Sacken , 63ff. On January 2 and 22, 1588, Pompeo Leoni wrote to Philip's secretary (Arc hivo General d e Simancas, Obras y Bosques, Escorial, fil e 8): J'attends un e re ponse de Votre Grace a la le ttre Oll je vous ai parl e d'e mmen er avec moi des ouvriers d e Milan e n Espagne pour qu ' il s m 'a id e nt a achever mes statues de bron ze. J' e n aurai grand b esoin aussi pour faire Jes sta tues royales e t imperiales de marbre et d e jaspe .... Ces statu es se ront a genoux, accoudees a des prie-Dieu reco uverts d e velours noir qu 'on figurera precisement avec le jaspe su sdit. ... Le marbre blanc destin e a faire Jes te tes et Jes mains et au tres choses encore, doi t etre du m a rbre d e Carrare choisi, qui n 'ex iste pas e n Espagne. ("I am waiting for a n an swe r from your g race to th e le tte r in whi ch I spoke to yo u about bringing worke rs with m e from Milan to Spain in order to h elp m e co mpl e te m y bron ze statu es. I will also be in grea t n eed of th e m to make the royal and impe ri al sta tu es of m a rbl e and jaspe r. ... These statu es wi ll b e kn eeling facing pri e-di e u covere d with black velvet decora ted with th e jas pe r. ... T h e white marbl e for making th e h eads and hands and other things, wh ic h is not found in Spain, must be selec te d ma rbl e from Carrara.")

Fre n ch transla tion of th e unpublish ed document by Jea n Ba belon , Jacopo da Trezza et la construction de

l'Escurial: Essai sur les arts a la cour de Philippe II, 1519-1589 (Bord ea ux, 1922), 180-8 1. Th e decision to gild th e re tabl e statues was made in th e spring of 15 88 sin ce Philip's secretary, '{barra, refe rs to th e probl e ms of gilding the bronze in a le tte r of Apri l 23 (Archivo General de Sima n cas, Obras y Bosques, Escorial, fil e 8) disc ussed by Babel on, l 72ff. See also th e excell e nt discuss ions of th e compl ex history and signifi can ce of th e m emorials in Mulcahy, chap. 7, "Los Entierros," 189-2 14.

29. M y translation is from th e 1995 unpublished edition and Fren ch transla tion by Olivi e r Christian ofJean van de r M e ul e n (Mola nus), Histoire des Tres saintes

Images et des peintures fJor clefendre leur usage veritable contre leur abus, Livre I 6 II, chap. 40, "Que c'est a bon droit que Jes images des sa ints sont recouvertes d'or ct d'a rgent, et ornees de COL!rO!l!leS OU de ve tements precieux," based on the Latin edition of 1617 . I wish to thank Jeffrey Mull e r for bringing this to m y attention and making the Fren c h translation available to m e.

30. See the excell ent discussion in Mulcahy, Escorial.

31. Mol anus, chap. 40.

32. Th e Counci l of Trent was well avvare tha t th eological matte rs we re confusing in words, too; e.g., The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, trans.

H . J. Schroeder (St. Louis and London , 19 50), "D ecree Concerning Purgatory," Sess ion 25 , D ecember 3-4, 1563 , 214, whi ch asks pri ests to preach the doc trin e but ''Th e more diffi c ult and subtl e qu estions, however, and those that do not m ake for edification and from wh ich there is for th e most part no increase in piety, are to be excluded from popular instructions to uneducated peopl e. Likewise, things that are uncertain or have the appearance of falsehood , th ey shall not permit to be made kn own publicly and discussed. But those things that te nd to a certain kind of curiosity or supe rstition, o r that savor of filth y lu c re, th ey sh all prohibit as scandals and stumbling blocks to the faithful."

33. See the excelle nt studi es by Ren e Taylor, "Juan Bautista C rescen cio y la arquitectura cortesana espa nola ( 161 7- 1635 )," Academia, Boletin de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando 48 ( 1979): 63- 126, an d Juan Jose Martin Gonzalez, "El Panteon de San Loren zo de E l Escorial," Archivo Espm7.ol de Arte 32( 127), 1959: 199-21 3.

34 . Los Santos, Descripci6n, fol. l l 5v. The English translation s h e re and in notes 35-37 b elow are quoted from Thompson , Description of the Royal Palace, 5.

35. Ibid ., fol. l 16r.

36. Ibid ., fol. l 16v.

37. Ibid., fol. l l 5v.

REPR E SE 1 TATIONS OF Co

VERSIO

SIXTEE 1 TI-I-CENTURY ARCHITECTURE

NEVI SPAI

Clara Bargellini Instituto de Investigaciones Est e ticas, Universidad

acional Aut6noma de Mexico

On the subject of sixteenth-century

Indian tmvns . With th e recent historiogra-

monastery architecture in 1 ew Spain, his-

phy comes a broader viewpoint.

torians have traveled far from ea rlier under-

In this paper, I examine the general

standing. Having first viewed the great

outlines of the historiograph y of sixteenth-

complexes erected by th e Franciscans,

century architecture in central Mexico,

Dominicans, and Augustinian as defens ive

interj ecting comments of my own, in order

fortresses built to demonstrate Spanish

to pursu e the qu estion of Indian participa-

victory and domination over indigenous

tion, an issue that has been of interest ever

peoples, studies have moved toward an

since th ese buildings began to attract schol-

acknowledgment of the utopian and spiri-

arly attention. It is appropriate to present

tual visions of th e fri ars who took Indian

this review in a Boston setting b ecause the

pra ctic es into account and profited from

study of M exican colonial architecture had

Indian wisdom and talent. Recently, som e

its beginnings, in the English language, in

scholars are finding evidence that the con-

this city. Sylvester Baxter was a Boston jour-

verted Indians were also manipulating

nalist and one of the principal apologists

forms and co nstru ction for th eir own pur-

for Frederick Law Olmsted's Boston Park

poses. Both the notion that sixteenth-

System. 1 In his Spanish Colonial Architec-

century monasteries were fortr ess churches

ture in M exico , Baxter proposed the term

built for defense, and th e now more-

"Early Franciscan" for the architecture

gen erally-accepted id ea that the aggressive

(fig. 1) that h e called "rudely mass ive ...

appearance was symbolic rath er than rea l,

with a look of austere severity, frowningly

center on th e church buildings and th eir

so mb er . . . primitive." 2 This appearance is the origin of th e "fortress church" idea, a

sculptural and painted deco ration . Some of th e n ewer studies, however, have shifted from the single-monument approach to con sid ering th e monastery co mplexes in relation to other buildings of th e Christian

popular notion 3 that is probl em atic , as we sh all see.

As Baxter himself acknowledges, hi s information and his basic appreciation

91

of the massiveness of th e architecture of sixteenth-century M exico came from Manuel G. Revilla, professor of the history of art at the Academy of San Carlos in M exico City, \,vho wrote the first general history of pre-Columbian and colonial Mexican art. 4 For Revilla, who was Catholic and sympathetic to Mexican conservative ideology, sixteenth-century monastery architecture was the first manifestation of Spanish faith and d ecision in the New World. That art would full y flower in the

Fig. 1. Franciscan monastery church, Cuernavaca

deeply religious expressions of the M exican

(now the cathedral ). The tower is a later addition.

Baroque, whose most eloqu ent forms Revilla

(Photograp h from Sylvester Baxter, Spanish

co mpared to Gothic, precisely for th e devotional feeling h e perc eived in them .5

Colonial Architecture in Mexico [Bos ton, 190 l ].)

For Baxter, however, the massiveness of

M exican mestizo culture during its forma-

sixteenth-century M exican architecture

tive period, was at first consid ered the his-

was th e foil for the "palpable flavor of the native spirit" that was "given a comparatively

torical style b est suited to the n ation that was rebuilding itself after the 1910 revolu-

free hand in the execution" of architectural

tion. Neocolonialism was consciously

decoration ,6 and also for the "riotous luxuri-

adopted in architecture, as in the M exican

ance" of later colonial Mexican art, "akin to the entangled profusion of a tropical fo rest."

pavilion for the 192 2 Rio de Janeiro Centennial Exhibition. The impulse seem s

This art vvas equally indebted for "its imagi-

to h ave com e largely from Jose Vasconcelos,

native quality" to "the native temperament." 7

th en minister of education.9 Although the

For Baxter, the "native" contribution repre-

notion of n eocolonial architecture as the

sented the vitality of New World creativity,

embl em of the n ew Mexico was soon

in contrast to European decline, and, as

rejected, as contemporary Nlexican archi-

such , could easily engage his enthusiasm

tects and artists sought a more mod ern

and be appropriated for an audience in the United States. 8 The Spanish Catholic ch ar-

idiom for their own work, the examination of that style contributed to the unprece-

acteristics of these wo rks were simply played

dented attention given to the arts of the

down or not mentioned.

M exican scholars of the early twentieth

colonial period. It was, in fact, in the late

century, partly reacting to Baxter and following on Revilla's work, could not,

sixteenth-century monuments \Vere truly "discovered." Scholars, especially Manuel

of course, ignore th eir mixed Spanish and

Toussaint, who annotated and translated

Indian h eritages. The art of the viceregal

Baxter's book into Spanish, 10 began system-

epoch , which was seen as th e expression of

atically to seek out the monasteries, scat-

92

1920s and in the following two decades th at

tered mostly in the countryside and often in remote areas. Baxter, limited to th e railway routes, had never actually seen more than a few of these complexes, but nationalistic fervor, particularly in the 1930s, provided the stimulu for careful examinations of sixteenth-c entury monuments, declared worthy of the same attention as their European counterparts. I I Toussaint v,1as initially less comfortable with the idea of indigenous contributions to the forms imported from Europe than were

Fig. 2.

others, notably Dr. Atl (G erardo Murillo ),

(Photograph by th e author. )

I

orth portal , Huaguechula, Puebla.

\vhose six volumes on colonial art, publish ed between 1924 and 1927, were ante-

problems of su ch a parallel and Moreno's

ceded by his \vork on "popular" art; for him

lack of precision in its application, the term

and many others then and since, popular

called attention to the specific characteris-

art was the work of Indian, or partly Indian,

tics of vvork in Indian communiti es and was

12

artisans. In 1935, Luis MacGregor, writing specifically about sixteenth-c entury

useful in distinguishing a certain kind of

architecture, presented a more complex

stone sculpture that was attributed to Indian artists. For example, at the sid e portal of

picture, introducing ideas that would be

Franciscan Huaquechula (fig. 2), a sculptor

dealt with more full y by others many years later. H e was interested in matters of tech-

having little fami liarity with European tra-

niqu e and symbolism and suggested com parisons with Moorish works. I 3 Although an ambitious program to cata-

ditions portrayed th e fi gures and ornament in a manner that delineates forms and details on the surface, parallel to th e wa ll .

In other words, h e respec ted the massive-

logu e buildings was planned and partially

n ess of the ston e and did not seek illusion-

carri ed out during these years, H architec-

istic effects. The model for the angels of

tural decoration , rath er than the buildings

the upper level (fig. 3)- undoubtedly a

as such, attracted the most attention. An indigenous m anner of stone carving, which

European printed image of angels coming out of clouds- has been rendered in an

h e call ed tequitqui, deriving from the

irregular, though tightly controll ed, pattern

n ahuatl for "tributary," was identified by

that does not distinguish any differenc es

the Spaniard Jose Moreno Villa in 1942. 15

between the robes and the clouds, either by

H e v-1as puzzled and impressed on a visit to

quality of lin e or manipulation of depth of relief.

Huagu echula by th e reli efs

there 16

and h ad

the idea of explaining them by making an

Within this context of discovery and

analogy with nwdejar, the work of Islamic

attempts at stylistic definitions , especially of

artisans in Christian Spain. D espite th e

th e ornament found on sixteenth-century

93

buildings, George Kubler and John 1v1cAndrew were able to compile their fundamental surveys of sixteenth-century Mexican architecture. Indeed, both Kubler 17 and McAndre,.v 18 dedicated their books to Manuel Toussaint. Their studies documented the major monastic establishments of central Mexico, and their concerns, too , were formal and stylistic, but not exclusively so. They provided overviews of the conversion and construction efforts.

Kubler dealt with building techniques, processes, and materials. McAndrew, who followed Kubler, had a more limited focu s insofar as he dealt with only one part of the monastery complexes; n evertheless, h e opened the way for inquiries into the use

Fig. 3. Detail of north portal, I-Iuaguechul a,

and functions of the buildings. Hovvever, for

Pu ebla. (Ph otograph by the author. )

both Kubler and NlcAndrew, the Indians ,,vere fundamentall y the objects of th e

sp eaking, the cren ellations of sixteenth-

"Great Conversion," as the latter called

century monastery churches could not h ave

it, and th e v,1ork forc e that made the

served for defense since their distribution,

monumental complexes possible.

arrangement, and dimensions were not

Another basic direction for the study of

appropriate for that purpose . 19 Impressed by

the sixteenth-century monastic architecture

their aesthetic effect ("the profile of the

of New Spain was signaled by Robert

building against the sky"), he did not seek

Ricard's SfJiritual Conquest of M exico , pub-

further explanations. McAndrew was also

lish ed in Paris in 193 3 and whose Spanish

expressing doubts about the fortress monas-

translation appeared in M exico City in 1955 .

teries at about the sa m e time. 20 It was E lena

In 1934, th e yea r after the publication of

Estrada de Gerlero who formulated in a

Ricard's book, the Un[versity of California

consistent manner the redefinition of the

publish ed John Phelan's Millennial

massive buildings, once gen erally thought to

Kingdom of the Franciscans in the ew World. With their positive views of the

have fulfi lled real military n eeds, as spiritual fortresses, expressions of the church as h eav-

religious mission of the friars, these books

enly Jerusalem. 21 Although th e issu e bea rs

encouraged the study of their ideas and

more scrutiny, as noted below, it is tru e that

motivations, which eventually h elped to

a symbolic fun c tion for th e m erlons and

bring about a reori entation of the defi nition

towers crowning monastery walls and build-

of the monastery church. In 19 55,

ings can explain their diminutive size and

Ma cGregor pointed out that, practically

impracticality in m any cases (fig. 4).

94

In this regard, we should also remember that the Spaniards became master in

ew

Spain after having taken the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, but with the indispensable aid of Indian alli es. The first friars who came to

ew Spain sought to start their

work where it would be best accepted, that is, in the territories of these Indian allies.

Consequently, the first important buildings by the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians were not erected in adversarial conditions; on the contrary, they had the

Fig. 4 . D e tail of atrium wall, c ren ellated "guard

support of the Indian populations. Further-

towe r," a nd posa ch apel. Tepoztlfo , Morelos .

more , and crucial to architectural history,

(Ph o togra ph by th e author. )

the monumental buildings we see today, and on whose appearance the idea of th e

say on the subj ects of iconography and

"fortress church" rests, are not the first

iconology, and, increasingly, what is sa id

church buildings to have been erected.

will assess both Spanish and native input.

This fact bears repeating because, whatever

Furthermore, as archeology b egins to

m ay have be e n the case in any particular

uncover the first gene ration of Niendicant

town, the monumental constructions that

buildings in Mexico, additional questions

past historiography has identified with

arise, specifically about architectural mean-

the spiritual conquest (Ricard 's phrase)

ing. I sh all cite only th e exampl e of the

are the products of Indian communities

three-a isl ed basilica church, b eca use it pre-

that had already b een converted - more

sents issues that have as yet to be exa mined

or less superficially is another question.

carefully. Many of th e first churches built

Therefore, to sp eak simply of an architec-

111

ture of conquest and eva ngelization is

type. 27 Even the Jesuits who did not arrive

misleading.

until 1572 built structures based on basilica

The studies of Gerlero, then Sebastian, 22 Peterson, 23 and Lara, 24 all of whom are

plans, first in Mexico City28 and then, notably, in th eir Sinaloa missions. 29 Th e

interested in symbolic aspects of th e build-

early buildings have disappeared, but exca-

ings and their ornament, show a keen

vations at Franciscan Hue jotzingo recently

awareness of this situation. Thus, not only

brought to light the foundations of th e first

do they not d e ny the importance of Indi an

two c hurch es on the site, which are basili-

v,1orkmanship; th ey also recognize ele m ents

cal.30 Given the importanc e of this form

of Indian iconography. Constantino Reyes,

for Early Christian architecture and the

esp ecially, sought out these native ele-

repeated, explicit referen ces m ad e by all the

m ents.25 As more wall paintings are found during restorations, 26 th ere will be more to

friars to their apostolic mission, the erecting

ew Spain see m to have b een of this

of basilicas during th e establishment of n ew

95

Christian communities may not b e a m ere

proj ects. Thus, work has bee n clone on

coinciden ce . Arch eology is one of the great

sixteenth-ce ntury architecture in its rol e as

gaps in the study of sixteenth-century M exican architecture, and , as more work is

th e site for liturgical and paraliturgical ac tions .32 These investigations look b eyond

done, \;<,1e sh all probably h ave more surprises

the buildings and their decoration to th e

such as at I-Iue jotzingo. And , if the basilica

spaces that surrounded them and to the

form indeed was used in imitation of the

communities in which th ey were lo cated ,

E arly Christian church es of Rome during

where th e Indian presence is more easily

the E arly Christian p eriod in N ew Spain,

p erceived .

then we shall have to face the question of

This approach will certainly lead to

wh y, at mid-century, there \Vas a shift from

furth er insights for architectural history

the three-aisled plan to th e massive

because it addresses a fundam ental issu e of

"fortr ess" church.

th e process of conqu est and colonizati on:

As matters stand today, art histori cal

the control of space. Architecture occ upi es

studies have demonstrated that it is often possibl e to see eviden ce in th e monastery

space, and there is ample proof that for the Spaniards, the establishment of towns and

complexes of the Indi an presenc e in motifs,

the erection of monumental buildings h ad

m aterials, and tec hniques; n eve rtheless, on

signifi can ce as testimony of the perm an ent

the whole, sixteenth-century church architecture and its decoration m anifes t th e

and definiti ve occ upation of the N ew World . In the particular case of the fri ars,

overwhelming European impact on Indian

their agenda was to create spaces worthy

communiti es in central M exico . Th e detec-

of th eir utopian mission in which all the

tion of Indian m otifs, though significa nt,

Indi ans were to participate. No doubt, they

gen erally do es not go fa r in granting agen cy

were also interested in proving to the crown

to n ative cultures .

and to other Spaniards (and perhaps even to

At the sam e time, h owever, studi es from other disciplines are pointing to different

th em selves) th at th ey were suc ceeding. othing proved it b etter than m onumental

ways of approaching the m aterial rem ains of

buildings. On th e other h and, the Indians

th e M endicant missions . In the last three

beca m e collab orators with th e fri ars fo r the

deca des, ethnographic and historical

en ormous con stru ction proj ects in th eir

resea rch h as fo cused attenti on on h ow the

towns beca use their own n eeds to conse rve

Indian communities both survived and

and co ntrol th eir spaces- physical, social,

ch anged after the conquest. 3l Art historians

and psychic - were th us som eh ow also

have respo nd ed by exami ning with m ore

served.

care the fun ction and use of the m on astery

Indeed, th e Spani ards them selves set up

compl exes, n ot only by the fri ar wh o

th e initial conditions that m ade it possibl e

planned and supervised their constru ction

fo r the co nverted Indians to m anipulate

and decoration, but also by the C h ristian-

their own spaces . The Spanish con cept of

ized Indians wh o provid ed the lab or and

civilizati on p rivileged town life, which , in

were the intended ben efi ciaries of the

architectural terms, implied p erman ent

construction in a hierarchical arrangement.

The Spaniards, to a great extent, followed

retain and control their own territories. H We know, too, that th e fri ars were sen i-

existent Indian social organization in setting up their own civil jurisdictions and system

tive to th e n ecessities of their Indian parishioners in the monastery complexes, on

of cabeceras (principal towns) . This m ea nt

matters that th ey did not p erceive as

that, despite abuses and the practic e of con-

damaging to th e Christian religion . Their

gregating previously distinct Indian commu-

attention to the n eeds of th e Indian com-

nities in a reduced number of places, some

muniti es had to do precisely, though not

of the Indian social fabric could survive.

exclusively, with the orga niza tion of spaces.

The friars followed the lead of th e Spanish

D esp ite th e discussions about European

authorities but also insisted on the funda-

and eve n Islamic precedents, everyone is in

mental division betwee n th e Indian towns

agreement that the immense atria in front

and th e Spanish tovvns so as to furth er their

of sixtee nth-ce ntury Mexican churches and

ideals, with no interferen ce from eith er lay

th e open ch apels, or ca fJilla s de indios, as

encomenderos (landlords ) or sec ular clergy.

An important point h ere is that th e utopian

they were called, were concessions to Indian society and to the particular concli-

project of the friars, although it was often

tions of the Indian church of

ignored or violated , was intend ed for the

(fig. 5). Recent work by Juan Benito Artigas

con verted Indians, not for th e Spaniards.

has reinforced this point. 35 In the words of

Thus, the monumental architecture at the center of Indian towns, which was a n eces-

Andres Lira and Luis !Iuro, "The purpose

sa ry referen ce for urban life, became the

existing order, since the ability and organi-

locus for express ing the religious ideals of

zation (' mafia y raz6n' ) that th e Indians

the fri ars \.\tho controlled its construction ,

demonstrated in communal life guaranteed

but it also ca m e to signify the social coh e-

peaceful domination."36 The Europeans'

ew Spain

was to transform, rather than destroy, the

sion and at tim es the particular ch aracteristics of the converted Indian communities.

The Indians learned very qui ckly about the importan ce given by Spaniards to construction in order to affirm possession of space. In 15 37, near Hu e jotzingo, a certain Francisco de Montealegre was prevented from occupying land because th e natives, knowing that colonial legislati on prohibited Spaniards fr om living near Indian settlements, h ad built thirty houses in the desired area practically overnight.33 This episod e occurred at the sa m e time that the Indians were mastering the use of written docu-

F ig. 5. Atrium , church, and open chapel.

ments and of m aps for th e same purpose: to

I-Iuaquechu la, Puebla. (Photograph by the author.)

97

basic intolerance for the indigenous religion was counterbalanced by a willingness to negotiate what were considered minor points.

One of the fundamental spatial decisions made by the friars in establishing an Indian town was that of gathering into one flock groups that had previously been independent of one another but now had to worship at the same church.37 The atrium could contain them all, obliterating th eir differences in its large space in front of the open chapel and in the shadow of the centrally located, single atrium cross. However, the atrium also provided the possibility of separate but equal affirmation in the corner

posa chapels (fig. 4 ). We really know quite little about these small buildings; they are usually explained in terms of processional

Fig. 6. View from th e barrio ch apel of Santiago

needs, which is no doubt accurate, since these are mentioned in colonial sources38

toward the central church. Tlayacapa n , Morelos. (Photograph by the author. )

and the custom survives in many places. 39 However, the fact that in some cases these

all are n ecessarily from the sixteenth cen-

chapels are today still associated with differ-

tury, but at least the four on direct and cross

ent barrios of the

towns 40

also suggests that

axis to the main church probably are, and

their construction may have been related to

they apparently correspond to barrio organi-

subgroups within the Indian communities.

zation (fig. 6). For all of its possible short-

In terms of colonized Indian society, there

comings, th e Tlayacapan study alerts us to

would have b een n eed of such constru c-

the importance of seeing a town as a whole

tions, in order to maintain distinctions

system , in which groups interacted with one

among groups, and , thus, the posa chapels are one example of an agenda that was

another and with their agricultural larger

closer to the Indians than to the friars.

Indian communities in craft production and

environment. The everyday activities of the

As far as I know, th e entire system of

in th e fields around the towns h ave not yet

religious construction within a Christian

been integrated into the study of the loca-

Indian town has b een studied in only one

tion, orientation, and character of their

lo cation: the Augustinian town of San Juan

architecture.

Bautista Tlayacapan, now in th e state of Morelos.41

There were twenty-six chapels in

the town , many of which still survive .

ot

Another recent study, of Dominican Teposcolula in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca, presents an interesting example of

architecture as the possible reflection of relationships, not between disparate Indian groups, but between the Indian governor and the church. 42 The house of the cacica (the Indian governor was a \路v oman, in this instance) was apparently constructed in conjunction and on axis with the open chapel of the town church (fig. 7). Thus, religious and civil architecture and spheres

LJ..I

of influ ence were integrated into the orga-

JOO

t""""

nization of the built environment of the

--- . _

路'掳

town. The case of Teposcolula also points to

Fig. 8. Plan of th e projec ted ca th edral of

the need for studies of th e urban history of

Patzcuaro, Michoacan. (Courtesy of Carlos

Christian Indian settlements over time. As

C h an f6 n Olmos. )

in other places, we know that present-day Teposcolula is not the first Teposc olula.

th e Christian Indian communities-as rep-

Only novv are the relationships between

resented in fJosa chapels and in the m yriad

original and later Christian locations of the

small chapels surrounding the main church

same town b eing examin ed vvith attention. 43

like satellites-were expressed in construc-

New studies on this issu e will certainly sh ed

tion that was peripheral to the main church.

light on th e question of architecture and

In Teposcolula, the issue was also the rela-

the occupation of spa ce.

tionship between buildings. However, in

In T layacapan and elsewh ere, attempts to control space on their ovm social terms by

Bishop Vasco de Ouiroga's Patzcuaro , Michoa ca n , th e most important example of the incorporation of the n eeds of the converted Indians into sixteenth-century architecture may h ave been the cathedral itself. Five naves, possibly corresponding to different Indian groups, converged on one sanctuary (fig. 8) .44 Th e building was never finish ed -only one nave was erected and still stands. Construction of the cathedral halted when the Indian communities who were bui lding it fell victim to the diseases that wiped out vast numb ers of Indians in the late 1570s and 15 80s.

The exa mples of Tlayacapan,

F ig. 7. T h e Casa de la cacica, foreground , align ed

Teposcolula, and Patzcuaro serve to illus-

with th e open chapel. Teposcolul a, Oaxaca.

trate som e of th e recent understanding that

(Photograph by James B. Kiracofe .)

has res ulted from integrating indigen ous

99

organization and social needs with the friars' agendas and designs for religious architecture. Other examples could be m ention ed, but I shall conclude by citing only one more recently studied case. By combining careful observation of the architecture with knowl edge of th e local situation, Pablo Escalante has shown how the two Indian

I want to thank Pablo Escalante and Gabriela Camara for their thoughtful comments to earlier versions of this text.

1. Cynthia Za itzevsky, Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston Par!? System (Cambridge, Mass., 1982), 122-2 3; and C lara Bargellini, "Ch urrigueresco yanqu i: Sylvester Baxte r y el arte colonial mexicano," Los discursos sabre el arte (M exico C ity, 1995 ), 169-91.

groups in the town of Cuautinchan precribed specific aspects of the decoration, and even of the colors used , in the monastic complex there. 4 5 The question of Indian

2. Sylvester Baxter, SfJanish Colonial Architecture in Mexico (Boston, 1901 ), 23-24.

3. A very recent reflection of it is found in James Ea rly,

participation, then, not only is an issu e that

The Colonial Architecture of Mexico (Albuque rque, 1995), 17: "Designed to convey a forb idding impression

has been of interest ever since these build-

of Spanish and Christian might."

ings began to attra ct attention, and to which current events in M exico have given a cer-

4. Manuel G. Revilla, El arte in Mexico en la epoca antigua y durante el gobiemo virreinal (M exico City, 1893 ).

tain urgency. It is also an extraordinarily fruitful path to achieve a better understand-

5. Ibid. , 20-38.

ing of sixteenth-century architecture and of th e people, both Spaniards and natives, who

6. Baxter, 19.

produced it.

7. Ibid. , 28.

8. This enthusiasm was certainly sh ared by Baxte r's collaborator, Bertram Grosvenor Goodh ue, wh o drew all the plans for the book and whose opinions on architecture are recognizable in th e text. Goodhue, it should be remembered, was responsible for the first neo-Spanish Colonial bu ildings in th e n orth eastern United States: th e 1895 church of Saints Pete r and Paul in Fall River, MA, and the 1897 M e th odist church at ewton Center, MA. See C lara Bargellini , "Arquitectura colonial, hispano colonial y neocolonial: lArquitectura am ericana?" Arte, historia e identidad en America (Mexico City, 1994), 417-29.

100

9. Mauricio Te norio, "A Tropi cal Cuau htellloc, Celebrating th e Cosmic Race at the Guanabara Bay," Anales clel Institu.to de lnvestigaciones Esteticas 65 ( 1994 ): 93-13 1, esp. 106-9; and Mexico at the World's Fairs (Be rkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1996), 200-19.

10. Manu el Toussa int, La arquitectura hispano-colonial en Mexico (M exico City, 1934).

11 . Manuel Toussa int, Paseos coloniales (M exico C ity, 1939); ibid ., "La arqu itectura religiosa en la Nueva Espana clurante el siglo A.'Vl," in Dr. At] (Gerardo Murillo), Iglesias de Mexico (M exico City, 1924-1 927), 6: 7-73; and ibid ., "Supe rvivencias g6ti cas en la a rquitec tura mexicana clel siglo A.'VI," Archivo Espai'iol de Arte y Arqueologfa 31 (1935): 47-66. Th is was a special issu e, devoted to colonial a rt, that resulted from the trip to Mexico in 1933 of Diego Angulo.

19. Luis Ma cGregor, Actopan (M exico City, 1955 ), 65-66.

20. John M cAnclrew, "Fortress Monasteries?"Ana/es de/ lnstituto de lnvestigaciones Esteticas 2 3 ( 195 5): 31-38.

21. E le na Estrada de G e rl ero's ideas, m ade public for yea rs in classes and lectures, appear in scatte red essays; one of th e first was: "El fri so monumental de Itz miquilpan ," Actes du XLII Congres International des Americanistes, vol. 10 (Paris, 1976), 9- 19. An edi ti on of Gerl ero's essays is forth coming.

22. For a summary, see Sa ntiago Sebasti an, "El arte iberoalllerica no cl el siglo XVI," in Arte iberoamericano

desde la colonizaci6n a la lndepenclencia, Summa Artis, vol. 28 (Madrid , 1989), 9-31 1, esp. 11 0- 19.

23 . Jeanette Pete rson, The Paradise Garden Murals of Malina/co (Austin , 1993 ).

12. Dr. At] (Gerardo Murill o), Las artes populares en

Mexico (M exico C ity, 1921 ).

13. Luis MacGregor, "Cien e jemplares de plateresco m exica no ," Archivo EsfJa11ol de Arte y Arqueologia 31 ( 19 3 5): 3 1- 4 5 .

14. Manuel Toussa int, Catalogo de construcciones clef Estaclo de Hidalgo (M ex ico C ity, 1941), which was COlllpil ecl be tween 1929 and 19 32, was th e First of th ese ca talogues.

15. Jose M o reno Villa, La escultura colonial mexicana (M exico City, 1942 ), 16- 19; and take n up again by hilll in Lo mexicano en las artes plci.sticas (M exico City, 1948).

16. El isa Vargaslugo, pe rsona l comlllunication.

17. George Kubl er, Mexican Architecture of the Sixteenth Century(! ew H aven, 1948).

18. John M cAnclrew, The OfJen-Air C hurches of Sixteenth-Centwy M exico (Calllb riclge, Mass., 1965).

M cAnclrew's dedi ca tion is for both Toussa int and Salvador Toscano, "with wholll I first saw m any of th e lllonulll ents shown in this book."

24. Jaime Lara , "El esp e jo en la cruz: Una 'reflexion ' lll ecli eval sabre las cruces a triales lll exica nas,'' Ana/es del lnstituto de Investigaciones Esteticas 69 ( 1996): 5-40, which de ri ves from a sec ti on of his Urbs Beata Hierusalem Americana (Ph.D. cliss., Yal e Unive rsity, 1995 ).

25. Constantino Reyes Valerio, Arte indocristiano (Mexico C ity, 1978).

26. Th e finding of wall paintings has been continuous in th e past thirty yea rs, which have seen th e discove ry of such important works as th e Last Judgment cycle at Xoxoteco; see Juan Ben ito Artigas, La pie/ de la arquitectura (Mexico C ity, 1979) . Even e ntire buildi ngs have been discovered recently; see Pablo Escalan te, "La iglesia sume rgicla: H all azgos y nuevas id eas sabre las prim e ras eclificaciones agustinas en la zona de M e tz titla n ," Ana/es def Institu.to de In vestigaciones Esteticas 65 ( 1994 ): 4 7-75.

27. Kubl e r, 24 1- 43; Manuel Toussa int, Arte colonial en M exico, rev. eel. (M exico City, 1983), 11- 12; ( 1st eel ., 1948).

101

28. Marco Diaz, La Arquitectura de los jesuitas en la rveva Es/JC111.a (Mexico Ci ty, 1982), 25-26.

36. Andres Lira and Luis l\!luro, "El siglo cle la integracion," in I-Iistoria general cle M exico (Mexico C ity, 1976), 1: -+ 38, 442.

29 . C lara Bargellini, "La arqu itcctura religiosa cl Sinaloa: Estucli o clocumental ," in Regionali;.:aci6n en el arte (M exico C ity, 1992), 11 9-21.

37. Lino Gomez Canedo, Evangeli;.:aci6n y conquista (Mexico City, 1977), 107-12.

30. Mario Cord ova Tell o, El convento de San Miguel de Jfuejotzingo, Puebla: Arqueologfa hist6rica (M exico C ity, 1992).

38. Diego Mufioz Camargo, DescrifJci6n de la ciudacl )' /JTovincia cle Tlaxcala (facs imile eel. by Rene Acufia , Mexico City, 1991 ), fol. 15: th e posas "sirven cl e estacion es y hurnillacleros para cuanclo hay procesiones."

31. C harles Gibson, The Aztecs under SfJCmish Rule (Stanford, 196-+); Serge Cruzinski , La colonisation de /'imaginaire (Paris, 1988); James Lockhart, The Na /was after the Conqvest (Stanford, 1992). See also John E. Ki cza, "Recent Books on Ethnoh istory and Ethni c Relati ons in Coloni al Mexico," Latin American Research Review 30(3) (1995): 239-53 .

-+O. In Tepoztlan , Morelos, each of th e fJosa chap ls is assoc iated with one of the older barrios of th e town.

32. G erl ero, "Itzmiquilpan"; and ibid ., "El programa pasionario en el co nvento fran cisca no cl e Hu ejotzingo," Jahrbuch fiir Ceschichte von Staat, Wirtschaft und Gesellsclwft lateinamerilws 20 (1983): 643-706; Lara, "Espejo en la oruz"; Fernando Horcasitas, El teatro nalwatl (Mexico Ci ty, 1974); Lourdes Turrent, La conquista musical de J\lfexico (Mexico C ity, 1993); Susan Webster, "Art Ritual and Confraternities in SixteenthCentury New Spa in ," Ana/es de/ lnstituto de Investigaciones Esteticas 70 ( 1997): 5--+ 3.

42. James B. Kira cofe, "Architectural Fusion and Indigenous Id eology in Early Colonial Teposcolula.

Th e 'Casa cl e la Cacica': A Building at th e Edge of Oblivion ," Ana/es del Instituto cle Investigaciones Esteticas 66 (1995): -+5-84.

33. Ca rl os Salvador Paredes Martinez, La region de Atlixco, I-foaquechula y Tochimilco: La sociedad y su agricultura en el siglo XVI (Mexico C ity, 1991), 44- -+5 .

3-+. Cruzinski, 55; and most recently, Barbara A. Mundy, The Map/Jing of New SfJCLin (Chi cago and London, 1996).

35. Juan Benito Artigas, Capillas abiertas aisladas de Mexico (Mex ico City, 1982).

102

39. McAnclrew, 280-82.

41. Claudio Favier, Ruinas de una utofJia (Merida, Spain , 1989). As on many other issues, Kubl er, chap. 2, made important suggestions rega rding th e topi c of urbanism in Indi an towns.

43. Pablo Escalante and Antonio Rubi a] are presently studying thi s probl em.

-+-+.Carl os Chanfon Olmos, "Patzc uaro en reli eve: Su tejiclo urbano ," Arquitectura de / siglo XVI (M exico C ity, 199-+), 119- -+-+, esp. 132. In th is and other studi es, Chanf6n has examin ed nati ve techni cal contributions to sixteenth-century architecture.

45. Pablo Escalan te, "El patrocini o de! arte inclocristiano," Patrocinio, colecci6n y circulaci6n de las artes (Mexico C ity, 1997), 215-3 5.

ART I N A MISSIO NA RY Co

TEXT:

IMAG ES FROM E U ROP E AND THE A I D ES IN THE CHUR C H OF A i DAHUAYLILLAS

EAR C uzc o

Sabine MacCormacl< Univ e r s it y of Michigan

In 601 A.D., Pope Gregory sent a lette r of

cognosce ns et adorans, ad loca qua e

advice a nd en co uragement to the mission-

consuevit familiarius concurrat. . ..

ary abbot

ellitus, who was working in

am duris m entibus simul omnia

England. Th e conversion was going to take

abscid ere inpossibil e esse non dubium est,

time, the pop e remind ed M ellitu s, b eca use

qui a et is, qui summum locum ascend ere

th e English co uld not b e expected to give

nititur, gradibus vel passibus, non autem saltibus elevatur. *l

up their ea rli er ways all at once. On the other hand, a b eginning had to b e made, and thus, the pop e wrote that although

ea rly a thousand yea rs later, this advice was remembered by missionaries in the

fa na idolorum in eadem gen te minime

Andes who were seeking to convert the

destrui debeant, sed ipsa qua e in eis sunt

Incas and their former subj ects. 2 In th e

idol a destruantur, aqu a benedicta fiat, in

Andes, Christianization was a b yproduct of

eisdem fa nis aspergatur, altaria construan-

invasion and conquest and was the refore

tur, reliquiae ponantur. Ouia, si fa na

inh erently violent and coe rcive, lacking th e

eadem bene constru cta sunt, n ecesse est

compon ent of long, drawn-out p ersuasion

ut a cultu daemonum in obsequio veri D ei

and diplomacy that characterized the evan-

debeant commutari, ut dum gens ipsa

gelization of early M edieval Northern

eadem fa na sua non vid et destrui, de

E urope . However, as several missionaries

corde errorem deponat, et Deum verum

soon realized, coercion on its own provided

*"th e templ es of th e idols ought not to be destroyed, the idols that are housed in th em should be. Let holy water be prepared and sprinkl ed in th ese templ es, let altars be erected and reli cs placed in them. For, if these templ es are well built, they ought to be converted from th e cult of devils to th e service of th e true Goel . In this way, the people, seeing that their templ es have not been destroyed, will remove error from their hearts; th ey will recogni ze and worship the true Goel and wi ll th e more willingly gather in the places that are fam iliar to th em .... For it is impossible to remove error from their obdurate minds all at once, just as a person who strives to ascend to the most exalted place proceeds by degrees and steps, and not by leaps."

of Spanish oc cupants or had b een replaced by n ew structures with til e roofs and E uropean floor plans .5 E lsev,1here in the And es, change was yet m ore radical. Many peopl e were no longer living in their ancestral villages but in reducciones, resettl em ents that \Ve re planned around a central square dominated by a church , by administrative buildings, and by th e houses of Spanish notables.6 By the early seventeenth century, th e external trappings of a Christian life were thus ubiquitous. But all too often , these C uzco. T he church of th e Domini cans occupies

trappings lacked content. The idols, or m any of them , h ad indeed b een destroyed,

part of this sacred enclos ure. It was built in th e

but n ew ones were constantly coming into

later seven teen th century on top of Inca fo u nda-

existen ce.7 lore important, the Andean

ti ons. (Ph otograph by Abraham Guillen. From the

landscape, the earth and the sky, continued

Resource Collecti on of the Getty Cen ter for the

sp eaking of the old deities and their power.

A model sermon, publish ed in 1584 , thus

F ig. 1. Cori ca ncha, the Templ e of th e Sun in

Hi story of Art and the Hu ma niti es.)

exhorted the And ea n listen er: no real fo undation for the form ation of religious and civic id entity, which was wh y, in daily practice, persuasion and teaching, alon g with simple repetition , acquired an eve r-m ore-significant rol e in h ow Christi anity was co mmunicated to Andean p eople.3 T h e Spanish arrived in the Inca empire in 15 32, and within only a century, every aspect of daily life h ad been utterly transfo rmed . Corican ch a (fig. 1), the sac red "en closure of gold" that comprised th e Templ e of th e Sun in the Inca capital of C u zco, h ad been transfo rm ed into a D ominican m on astery, the main san ctuary being converted into a church , just as Pope

Fig. 2. Solar marker (intihuatana) at Pisaq nea r

Gregory h ad recommend ed. 4 T h ro ugh out

Cuzco. T h e marker was originall y about two fee t

th e city, thatch ed Inca palaces and private

high but was hacked down by extirpators of idolatries.

h ouses ha d eith er been adapted fo r the use

(Photograph by th e au thor.)

Ad ores y h om es sobre todo al verdad ero Di os qu e es uno solo, y n o adores ni tengas otros dioses ni ydolos, ni guacas . . . . N o adoreys al sol [fi g. 2], ni a la luna, ni al luzero, ni las cabrill as, ni alas es trellas, ni ala m afl a na, ni al tru e n o, o rayo, ni al a rco d el cielo, ni alos cerros ni montes, ni alas fu entes, ni alos ri os, ni ala m a r, ni alas qu ebradas, ni al os arb oles [fi g. 3], ni alas pi ed ras, ni alas sepulturas d e vuestros antepassaclos, ni alas c ul ebras, ni alos leon es, ni alos ossos, ni a otros animales, ni ala tie rra fertil: ni te ngays villcas,

*

ni gu acas, ni fi gura d e hombre

o ove jas h ech as d e piedra. â&#x20AC;˘

8

Th e orde r that missiona ries te nde d to pe rc eive in Andean obj ects of vvorship was predicated on a n Aristotelian a nd Thomist hi e ra rc h y of b eing, in whic h celestial phenome na , th e sun and stars, ra nked above te rres tial on es, such as mountains a nd stream s, a nd these in turn \Ve re follo wed by animals and pla nts. This grad ed hi e ra rc h y, visibl e in th e m ate rial unive rse, pointe d to

Fig. 3. Drawing fro m Joa n de Santac ru z Pachacuti

the hand of God as the make r and lord of

Yamqui Salcamaygua's Relacion de antiguedades

all of c reation a nd , so the missiona ries

deste Reyno clel Pini, showing th e pl ace of origin of

thought, made Christia ni ty essentially self-

th e In cas, fl anked by trees . (Bi bli oteca Tac ional,

expl a natory. The diffic ulty, however, was

Madrid, MS 3169, fol. 8v.)

*GLLaca: And ea n deity or sac red obj ect; see Mill s, chap. 2. Lorenzo Huertas Vallejos, La religion en ima sociedad rural andina (siglo XVII) (Ayac ucho, 198 1) also merits consulting. **Vi llca: Andea n deity, often a human being metamorphosed into stone. GLLacas an d villcas are frequ entl y mentioned sid e by side in th e Spani sh sources, e.g., D iego Gonzalez Holguin , VocabLLlario de la lengua general de todo el Peru llamada lengLLa QqLLichLLa o del Inca (Lima, 1608; reprint, Lima, 1989), 693 , s.v. Ydolo. Huacca, o villca. ***"You should adore and honor above all th e tru e God, who is one only, and yo u sho uld adore and have no oth er gods, idols or guacas .. .. You should not adore th e sun [fig. 2], th e moon, the morning star, th e Pl eiades or the other stars, the morning light, the thund er or lightning, th e ra in bow, nor ye t crags and mountains, springs and rive rs, th e sea and streams, trees [fi g. 3], rocks and th e buri al pl aces of your ancestors, nor yet serpents, li ons, bea rs, or oth er animals, or th e fertil e land . You should have no vi/leas or gLLacas or sto ne figures of human beings or of ll amas ."

Taken togeth er, h owever, the m anual and th e church with its imagery reveal th at Perez Boca n egra h ad refl ected carefull y about the communicability of Christianity in the Andean wo rld .

T h e entran ce of th e church of Andahuaylillas, a tall double d oor fa cing north east, gives access to a long n ave with the m ain altar at the southwestern e nd . Th e baptistry and tower at the n ortheaste rn e nd fl ank the m ain entrance. Stairs ins ide the Fig. -+. C hurch of Andahuaylillas.

tower lea d to th e choir and organ loft, which

(Ph otograph by th e auth or. )

in turn gives access to an external balcon y above th e principal entra n ce. Altars and sid e

that the hie ra rch y of c reation that the mis-

ch apels, along \;<,1ith a confess ion al, line the

sionari es took fo r granted m ad e little sense

nave, and the m ain altar, where only priests

to Andean p eopl e, \vho ord ered their uni-

and acolytes entered, is raised on steps and

verse acco rding to quite different principl es.

is set apart by a low barrier. The building, as

It was to take stock of this difficult reality

Perez Boca n egra viewed it, was a vehi cle for

that in 163 1, the priest Juan P erez Boca-

teaching his fl ock the C hristian life, which

n egra publish ed a m anual for missionaries

b egan \,vith baptism , "pu erta d e la Religion

th at addressed th e issue of con version fr om

C hristiana, y d e la vida eterna" (the gateway

an other vantage point. P e rez Bocan egra

to the C hristian religion and to ete rnal

h ad served fo r som e years in the parish of

life.) 12 T h e C hristian life continued with

Santa Ana in C u zco; h e \Vas th e official

confirmation , con fess ion , and receiving

exa mine r fo r mi ssionari es qualifying to

th e E u ch a rist, a nd it e nded vvith burial in

teach and preach in Ouechua and Ayma ra;

consecrated ground . T h e location of th e

and h e h ad also b een priest of the reducci6n

baptistry, n ext to the en tran ce of th e church ,

of Andahuaylill as in th e C u zco valley,

expressed its fun ction as the place where

wh ere h e supervised the fresco decoration

C hristian li ving b egan; at th e end of life,

of the parish church (fig. 4). 9 At first sight,

b efore burial, a corpse would be carried

both th e manual and the frescoes of th e

along the entire length of the n ave and

church appear to m ake uncompli cated

wo uld rest b efore the high altar while the

orthodox state m ents. Indeed, the ma nual

office of th e d ead was being sa id . Along with

fo llows, rubric by rubric, th e Tridentine

the side altars, thi s high altar was install ed

Office Book fo r parish priests that was publish ed in 1620 in Antwcrp, 10 \,vhil e the plan

in the later seventeenth century, after Perez Bocanegra's time in Andahuaylillas.1 3 T h e

and d ecorative program of the church sh are

n ortheastern en d of th e church , h owever,

nu merou s ele m ents with other church es,

retains m u ch of the decorati on that Perez

both in the C uzco valley and in Spain. 11

Bocanegra supervised, and it is h ere that we

106

Fig. 5. Door to th e baptistry in th e church of

Fig. 6. Door to stairs lead ing to th e choir loft

Andahuaylillas with th e inscription in Latin ,

in th e church of Anda huaylillas, with th e Latin

Spanish , Quechua, Aymara , and Puquina: "I

insc ripti on: "BEl\ED ICi\ J\ I US Pr\TRF:.\ I

bapti ze yo u in the name of th e Fath er, and of

CUi\ I SP IRITO SAJ\CTO. L1\ UDEJ\'T NOi\ I F:l\ DOi\ l lN I

the Son and of th e Iloly Spirit." (Ph otogra ph

IN C l IORO"

by the auth or. )

Son with th e Iloly Spi rit. Le t th em praise the

li'.T FlLIU.\l

(Let us bless th e Fa th er and th e

name of the Lord in the choir). (Photograph by th e author. )

can b est understand what h e endeavored

m a rried. 16 Baptism was th e sacra m ent of

to teach his Andean charges, and h ovv.

washing away sin with co nsecrated water,

Standing in the church door, th e gatevvay

a nd that is wh at th e baptism al formula ,

to eternal life in a conc rete, ph ys ical sense,

insc ribed over th e d oorway to th e baptistry,

Perez Bocan egra \Va ited at th e appointed

stated in Latin , Spanish, Ouechua, Aym ara,

hour for a child to b e brought for baptism

and Puquina (fi g. 5). In th e Ou echua ver-

by parents a nd godparents, a girl child

sion of th e inscripti on , Bocan egra used th e

being carried on the parent's left arm and a

Latin term for "I baptize" but conjugated it

boy child on the right one.1-1 Likewise, the

with Quechua inflections. In th e m anual,

m ale fa mily m e mbe rs would stand to the

h owever, h e provid ed fo ur Ouechua syn-

pri est's right and th e wom en to the

left. 15

on ym s fo r thi s term, p ointing out that wh at

This was also th e way th ey wo uld sta nd in

m attered was washing, bathing, and cleans-

church during wo rship and wh en ge tting

ing with \,\iater. 17 Baptism was not m e rely, as

om e p opl e thought, the ceremony of

by "eld er broth ers and sisters," th e wise a nd

receiving a Christian n a m e; more impor-

the old , figures of authority within Andea n

tantl y, its wa te r conveyed God's cleansing

communities, whose guidan ce was b eing

grace, the reby replacing Andean rituals of

displaced by an alien se t of impe rati ves

purificatio n . 18

administered b y C hristian priests wh o we re

Across the n ave from th e door to th e

for eign ers.19 In addition , going to confes-

b aptistry, with its insc ription in fi ve lan-

sion am o unted to submitting on eself to a

gu ages, anoth er door lea ds to th e choir loft

len gthy questionnaire that listed , on e by

and tower. This door also b ea rs an insc rip-

on e, all th e possible breach es of each of the

tion , but while th e insc ription of th e b ap-

Ten Comm andments, as, for exampl e:

tistry refe rs to the b eginning of C hristian

o m ad re] en las

life, that over th e door to the choir loft a nd

Ob edeces [a tu padre

tmve r conte mplates the life of a m ature

cosas b u en as qu e te mancl an ? H azeslos

Christian as expressed in th e ac ts of \VOr-

llorar? H azesles afr enta? Suelesles refiir,

ship that we re p e rform ed in this very spot:

y h ablarl es asp era m ente? ... Ou e tanto

" BENEDICAM US PATREM ET FILI UM CUM

tiemp o a que estas aman cebado? D oncle

SPIRITO SANCTO. LAUD E T

tien es essa tu m an ceba? tien esla en tu

DOMir I I

O ME

C HORO" (Let us bless the

casa? Hurtastele essa tu m an ceba a su

Fath er and th e So n with the Holy Spirit.

maricl o? ... Co mpraste alga p or mu ch o

Let th em praise th e n am e of the L ord in the

m enos de lo qu e valia?

choir) (fig . 6) .

m as de lo qu e valia? qu e tanto valia lo que

After b aptism , the n ext major step in

vencliste

o venclistelo por

o co mpraste? Ou e tantas vezes

the d evotion al life of an Andean co n vert

h as h ech o esso? E n que tanta ca nticlacl

involved confession , to b e m ad e in the

engafiaste com prancl o,

o ve ncliencl o? 02 D

church but out of earsh ot of all except the pri est, who sat in a thronelike ch a ir with th e

C onfess ion was a two-edged sword. On

penitent kneeling to one sid e. Confess ion

on e h and , it provided a missionary with use-

m ore tha n an y other Christian ritual high -

ful info rmati o n ab o ut wh at was h appe ning

lighted the full extent of the outwa rd and

in his parish ; o n th e oth er h and, it d rove

inward conflicts that confronted Andea n

And ea n p eople, eager to avoid th e humilia-

conve rts to Christiani ty. In b ec oming

tion tha t confession b rou ght with it, to seek

Christia n s, they were for ced to turn away

out support and consolation from those

fr om old establish ed Andea n rituals of

sa m e old e r brothe rs and sisters wh ose min-

purificati on; su ch rituals we re adminstered

istry th e church h ad o utl awed. These broth-

*"Do yo u obey [your fa ther and mother] in th e good things they ask yo u to do? Do you make them weep? Do yo u insult them? Do you shout at them or speak harshly with th em? .. . How long have yo u lived with yo ur mistress? W here do you keep her? In your house? Did you take her fro m her husband? ... D id yo u buy something fo r much less than it is worth ? O r sell it fo r more than it is wo rth ? What was th e value of the obj ect tha t you bo ught or sold? How many tim es did yo u do it? By what amount did yo u defra ud [your customer when] buying and selli ng?"

108

ers and sisters al so listen ed to confessions of

But emotional support c ould only go so

sin , which p nitents "read " for them from

far; after all , confess ion b efor e a Christian

a quipu , a nd they gave advic e about how

pri est inside the church building entailed

confession b efor e a Cluistian pri est should

more than the revelation of one's private

b e h a ndl ed . Specifically, th e brothe rs and

life b efor e a witn ess whom Andean peopl e

sisters h elped to d evelop a formal confes-

te nde d to p erceive as h ostil e. It also

sion that would satisfy a missionary \vhil e

re quired the reorie ntation of one's entire

at th e sam e time en abling the p enite nt to

inner life away from the Andea n natural

avoid confessing sins that would entail

world- awa y from th e holy mountains and

onerous p enances. \i\That v.ras more, the

lakes, from the sun , m oon, and stars that

quipu on which su ch a confession had b een

h ad received worship in Inca times and that

encod ed could b e u sed several times b y dif-

continued to b e revered in colonial times,

fer ent p e opl e confessing b efore different

and from the small domestic talismans or

Christian priests. Standa rdi zed qu estion-

guacas that accompanied the daily and sea-

n aires for confess ion, design ed to reveal a

sonal labor of h erding and agriculture . Any

p erson's h eart and intentions, thus pro-

act of devotion, however sm all , that was

du ced the opposite effe ct. Once missionar-

addressed to these b eings was relentlessly

ies had group ed sins into categories of

censored not only in se rmons and cate-

wrongdoing that were broadly applicable,

chism classes, but also in confession :

the elde r broth ers and sisters were able to respond in the sa m e idiom by weaving sins

Si entre suefios ves el sol , o luna, dizes,

into a gen eric confession that sh eltered

qu e se tea de morir algun pariente? . . .

p enitents. P erez Bocan egra learned about

Ouancl o passas algun rio grand e,

this prac tice by cross-exa mining his And ean

pequefio , sueles adorar el agua, y bever un

p enitents; h e acco rdingly rec ommended

poco clella, para que no te lleve el rio, y

that they b e prohibited from using quipus

clizes, qu e es para passa rl e bi en ? .. .

in c onfession and instea d b e led to c onfess

Sueles aclorar esta ti erra clonde estas,

th eir sins in response to ca reful qu estioning

diziencl o: 0 m aclre ti erra,

coupled with emotional support from th e

larga,

priest. 21

tus brac;os con bien ?.. ... Olviclaclo de

o

o m aclre tierra

y estenclicla, trae m e ac u estas, o entre

*Quipu : bundl e of kno tted a nd so m e times di ve rsely co lored cords u sed to reco rd num e ri ca l a nd textu a l in fo rm a ti o n . Th e sys te m of e n codin g was hi ghl y sophisti ca te d and h a d b ee n e mpl oyed b y th e In ca sta te n o t o nl y to reco rd info rm a ti o n required fo r o rga ni z in g corvee labo r a nd coll ec tin g tribute, but also fo r reco rding histo ri ca l n a rra ti ves. See M a ri a Asch e r a nd Ro be rt Asch e r, Code of the Qv ipu (Ann Arbo r, 198 1); T. C ummin s, " Re prese nta ti o n in the S ixtee nth Ce ntury a nd th e Colo ni al Image o f th e Inca," in Writing Without Words, e d . E li za b e th Hill Boo n e a nd W alte r Mig n o lo (Durh a m , 1994), 188-2 19.

C u :rn1a n Po m a, 800, d epi c ts an And ea n co mmunity supe rviso r h oldin g a b ook an d a qu if; v _By m ea n s of th e j uxtap os i ti o n of book and quipu, G u a m a n Po m a su gges ts th a t quip us we re a nalogou s to E u ropea n wri tin g in books. **T h e image of th e ea rth ca rrying th e su ppli ant on h e r b ack is espec iall y co n vincin g sin ce And ea n wome n ca rrie d (as th ey still d o) the ir childre n on th e ir back in llicllas; fo r a picture, see G ua m an Pom a, 64 5.

Di os, as adorado las hu acas, los ccrros, las fu entcs,

o rios, cl sol, la lun a, las cs trcllas,

surp 1ice, h e is seen kneelin g b efor e th e prin ce of th e apostl es dressed in papal garb ,

el lu ze ro , cl rayo, y las dernas cosas, co rn o

th e remaining pan els of th e pulpit b eing

en ti cmpo del Inca?

fill e d by m edallion portraits of th e four

22

evangelists. Th e pulpit conveyed a doubl e In th e fa ce of th e vast reori entation of

m essage. First, it e ndowed th e \Nritten and

feeling and culture that Andean Christians

thus anon ymous words that were rea d to

were forced to unde rgo , P erez Bocanegra,

And ean pe ople from th e Christian scrip-

like othe r missionari es, in sisted that th e

tures \Vith th e visible fa ces of the individ-

Christian Goel was the only appropriate

uals who had long ago spoken and writte n

recipient of worship , 23 and h e backed up

those words. In addition , the m essage repre-

hi s m essage b y drawing attention to his

sented Perez Bocanegra, th e priest of

own spiritual authority. Simultaneously,

Anclahuaylillas, as on e of those augu st b ear-

howeve r, h e end eavored to repopulate the

ers of authority, whose voice in the confes-

And ean spiritual world not only with th e

sional was the voice of Peter.

Christian triune d eity but also with angels,

The coercive power that was proj ected

m artyrs, and saints, with , in short, "th e

over And ean p eopl e b y secula r and

beauty of holin ess ." 24

Christian authoriti es in colonial Pe ru was

Th e church of Anclahuaylillas was dedi-

awesome . Bishops and viceroys, priests and

cated to Sa int Peter \Nhose m a rtyrdom is

regional gove rnors used every m ean s of

depicte d on the fa cade at balcony level,

sol e mn display at their disposal to impress

above four nich es c onta ining the fresc oed

and cow the And ean m a jority. The admini s-

fi gures of the fath ers of the church . Th e

trative system e nforcing the prompt d eli ve ry

m a in doorway is surmounted by a Latin

of tribute paym ents was fero cious, a nd reli-

inscription carved in elega nt ca pitals:

gious nonconformity was persecuted with

"BENE FUNDATA EST DOMUS DNI SUPRA

relentl ess pe rsisten ce.27 But that was not

FIRMAM PETRAM PETRI" (The house of th e

th e vvh ole story.

Lord is securely found ed on the firm rock of

At eye level, the nave of the church

Peter).25 The upper level of the n ave of the

of Anclahuaylillas is lined with a row of

church is d ecorated with can vases d epi c ting th e life of Peter, 26 and painted on the pulpit

fem ale saints dressed in the formal garb of

from \,vhich Perez Bocan egra preach ed

Sa int C ecilia (fi g. 7), Sa int Barbara, Saint

every Sunday and feast clay appears a sm all

Lucy, and m an y others, gra cefully vvielcling

portra it of him self. Wea rin g his cle rical

the palms of th eir m artyrdom , offer their

seventeenth-century Spani sh high society.

""Wh en in your drea ms yo u see th e sun or moon, do yo u say th at one of yo ur kinsfolk will di e7 ... Wh en you cross a grea t or small ri ve r, do you \\'Orsh ip th e wa ter and drin k a littl e of it so th at th e ri ver does not ca rry yo u away, saying th at it is fo r you to cross over safely? ... D o yo u worshi p thi s land where yo u are, saying, Oh moth er ea rth , fa r-flu ng mo th er, carry me on yo ur back, ca rry me in yo ur arms? .. . Tiave you fo rgo tten Cod and worshipped th e huacas, th e mountains and springs, th e rivers, th e sun , th e moon and stars, th e mornin g star, the lightning and oth er things, as in the tim e of th e Jn ca?''

110

Fig. 7. Saint Cecilia. Fresco from the nave of

Fig. 8. Orga n in th e choir loft of the church of

the church of Andahuaylillas. (Photograph by

Anclahuaylill as : musician angels. (Photograph

the author. )

by the author.)

elegant company to the Andean faithful as

Saint Peter and th e eva ngeli sts, th ese holy

they attend mass, wait for confession, or

personages were all foreigners, migrants

bring a child to be baptized . From a sid e

from Castile and Andalucia, where they had

altar, a stylish Saint Micha el, cas ually tra m-

exercised the artistic imagination for cen-

pling on th e forces of evil , looks out towards

turi es (fi g. 11 ). 28 But so m e of th em also fi g-

his proteges. In the choir loft, figures of

ure in Perez Bocanegra's m anual, where

musician angels (fi g. 8), along with Saint

th eir n oble Castilian aspect was endowed

Cecilia and King D avid, d ecorate a pair of

with an Andean coloring.

small organs. On the north and south walls

Years of listening to confess ions, and of

of the choir loft, busts of Saint Pe ter and

asking persistent and d eta iled questions as

Saint Paul are displayed among bunch es of

to the tru e nature of the precise sin und er

flow ers, \;<,1hil e on th e west wall, be n eath the

discussion, h ad led Perez Bocan egra to

skylight, th e Virgin Mary is seen kneeling

und erstand how Andean people ordered

before the angel Gabriel (fi gs. 9-10).

their natural, social, and personal unive rse .

A Latin insc ription explains the picture:

His translations of Christian h ymns a nd

"MIS SUS EST A CELUS GAB RIEL AD

prayers into Ouechua suggest that h e also

MARIAM VIRCINEM DESPO TSATAM JO"

understood just h ow distant their world was

(Th e angel Gabriel was sent to Mary the

from th e C hristian co mos that Spaniards

Virgin who was b etroth ed to Joseph ). Like

took for granted . This awaren ess gen erated 111

Figs. 9- 10. Angel G abriel and Virgin Mary: Annun ciati on in th e choir loft of th e church of Anclahuaylill as.

(Ph otographs by th e author. )

reformulations of Christian ideas in Ouechua that are nothing short of bold .

For example, th e h ymn to the Virgin

to describ e th e Virgin converge. Th e Virgin "b eautiful as the m oon"32 could appeal equally to Spanish Christians and to

Mary th at conclud es the m anu al for priests

And ea n peopl e, wh o thought of the m oon

addresses the mother ofJesus with everal of h er time-h onored Christian epithets: "bliss

as representing the Inca qu een . Similarly, th e Virgin's titles "pillar of the weak" and

of h eave n"; "en closed gard en of joy"; " joys

sh e '\vho cares for orphans" resonated with

of the angels"; "pillar of the weak"; "city of

titl es that had form erly b een asc ribed to the

God ." Other epithets, h owever, are derived from the Andean world : "gold en gran ary";

Inca rul er, the "fath er of the poor and of orphans." 33 E lsewh ere in th e m anual, Perez

"silver store"; "Pleiades." Th e golden granary perhaps recalls the Andean constella-

Bocan egra asc rib es to God the title Ca/Jae, "powerful," which h ad form erly differenti-

tion that was desc ribed as granary, qullca. 29

ated th e Inca from all other potentates,3+

Silver \Vas associated not only with the

whil e th e Virgin is c;apai coya, "queen of

m oon but also with And ean con cepts of

this land ," an alogous to the c;a pai Inca, the

nobility and social hi erarchy; sp ecifically,

"king of this land."35 Th e daring nature of

it design ated noblewomen , and , in particular, th e Inca qu een. 3 F inally, th e Pleiades

째

these renderings b ecom es all the m ore salient wh en one recalls that mission ari es

marked a pivotal point in the Andean agri-

in the And es h ad debated for gen erations

cultural calendar and announced wh eth er

wh ether th e Ouechua langu age contained

the h arvest would b e pl entiful or poor.

Calling on M ary as Pleiades thus amounted

even the most basic vocabulary with which

to integrating h er into the And ean n atural universe. 31 In some instan ces, the C hristian and Andean images that Perez Bocan egra used 112

to communicate the existen ce of on e G od, let alon e articulate theological n otions that were independent of E uropean precedents.36 Perez Boca n ega's manual fo r mission aries is a book redolent with contradictions.

On one h a nd , he firml y opposed th e opin-

message of the Annunciation, with the

ion of the m a jority of missionaries who

inscription "The angel Gabriel was sent to

we re convinced that Andean people were hardened idolaters. 37 "By th e m ercy of

Mary the Virgin who vvas betrothed to Joseph ." This composition appears above

Goel," h e wrote,

th e door leading from the choir loft to the external balcony of the church, the door

no aya mucho desto en esta ciudad del

frame inscrib ed in Latin with the words

Cuzco, y aya perso nas que digan, y

"DOMUS DEI PORTA COELI" (The house of

engafie n a su Mages tad de! Rey Don

Goel , the gate of h eaven ). Above the angel

Felipe nu estro senor con falsedad, que

and Mary is a round skylight with an inscrip-

ay idolatrias, dize nlo por sus intereses, y

tion only partially legible: "CONCEPIT"

ambiciones y no porqu e aya, a lo menos,

(She con ceived [by the Holy Ghost]),

con pu bli cidad nada desto, ay alga fuera del, yen raras partes.* 38 Like Pope Gregory, and unlike many of his contemporaries, Perez Bocanegra rejected the project of m aking a clean sweep of all pagan observances at once, relying instead on gradual eva ngelization .39 At th e same time, hm;vever, h e included in his manual the most complete of all lists of Andean idolatrous practices, which reviews actions, thoughts, and even dream s.

Similarly, his descriptions of Christian ritual action are ample and precise clown

째

to the last cletail. 4 Concurrently, though, his translations of liturgical langu age and prayers accommodate Christian meaning to the feelings and thoughts of Quechua speakers. Such a dichotomy also speaks in the imagery of th e church of

Fig. 11. Annunciation. Engraving from

Anclah u aylillas.

Benito Arias Montano, Hwnanae salutis

In th e choir loft, as we h ave seen , the Virgin Mary kneels, listening to Gabriel's

111011wne11ta. (Antwerp, 1571. University Library, Valladolid. )

*"Th ere is not much idolatry in this city of Cuzco, although th ere may be persons who say, by way of fraudu lently deceiving His Maj esty our lord King Philip, that idolatry is practi ced. Th ey say it because of th eir selfinterest and amb ition, and not because idolatry exists, at least not in public, and th ere may be som e idolatry outside C uzco, but only in a very few places ."

yea rs of their m aturity: the exp erien ces of growing and aging tha t ch arac terize ordinary human life are thus seen to b e present in th e lives of sacred personages also .

H aving contemplated th ese depictions of events and processes that h ad occ urred in th e sacred time describ ed in th e New Testam ent, viewers may tum around and look down from the choir loft into th e nave of th e church and into the time of th eir own present. H ere in th e church , the women in Perez Bocan egra's p eriod would b e standing, during worship , on th e left, Fig. 12. T he north east wall of the choir loft of the

the Virgin's sid e, whil e th e m en would

church of Andahuaylillas. (Line drawing by the author. )

which in tum is surrounded by seven m edallions containing the Latin words "[S]AN [CTUS] ADO NA! RADIX EMANUEL CLAVIS REX ORIE NS" (Holy, Adonai, Root,

Emmanu el, Key, King, The one who rises), all epithe ts of God and of Christ (see fi gs .

9-10 and 12).41 Subsuming the cluster of inscriptions in and around th e skylight into a single whole, they describe the Trinity: th e Holy Ghost by whom M ary conceived; Goel the Father referred to by the Old Testam ent title of Adonai; and Jesus, referr ed to as Emmanu el and as "H e wh o rises" like the sun at his nativity. At eye level, below the angel G abriel, appears a m edalli on portrait of th e adult b ea rded C hrist, and below the Virgin Annunciate is displayed h er m edallion portrait as a m ature woman .

The viewer thus m oves forward fr om the

Fig. 13 . God, with Adam and the sun at his right, and Eve with the moon at his left, at the

Annunciati on , wh en th e Virgin was young

creati on. T he Incas th ought of th e sun as male

and C hrist as yet unborn, to th e tim e wh en

and of the moon as female. (G uaman Poma,

th ese sac red personages h ad reach ed th e

Nueva cr6nica, 12. )

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F ig. 15. T h e lin e drawing (by th e a uth or) sh ows some of Pachacuti Yamqui's expla na ti on s in E nglish.

have taken th eir places on th e right, th e

However, it also corresponded to an

side of th e angel and of Christ.

This gend ered division of th e fresco

Andean ordering of space that p erc eived th e upp er moiety of eac h community as

of th e Annunciation and of th e liturgical

right, or m ale, and th e lower moi ety as left,

space of th e church was taken for granted

or female.+ 2 According to the Andean his-

in seventeenth-ce ntury Spanish Peru .

torian Guaman Poma de Ayala, an ea rl y

n6

contemporary of Perez Bocanegra , this

Th e complete d esc ription rea ds,

ordering of space and society was estab-

"Collcampata y la cassa estaba todo , afi x-

lish ed by God at the creation , where Adam kn eels at God's right h and and Eve at his

ado con plan ch a de oro llamado cori ca nch a Vac;i" (Collcampata. And th e house

left (fi g. 13).+3 Guaman Poma was one of

was completely covered with sh eets of gold

several educated Andeans who in the ea rly

and was call ed th e house of the enclosure

seventee nth century tried to p ersuade the Spanish that Andean religion and

of gold, Coricancha). The entire depic tion is dominated by a large oval shap e with a

Christianity were profoundly compatible

lab el in Ouechua : "Viracoc han pa ch ay-

and that, moreove r, th e true God had

achachippa unan ch an. o ticcicapacpa

bee n known in the Andes long b efore the Spanish arrived. 44

unancha n o ttonapapa ch acayocpa unanchan o cay carica choncay varmi cachon-

Don Joan de Santacruz Pachacuti

nispa unan chan" (Image of th e creator

Yamqui, author of a short hi story of

Viracoc h a, or image of Ticcicapac [s ic], or

Peru , and whose hom e was not far from Andahuaylillas, h eld similar views. By way

image of Ttonapa [sic ] m aker of th e ea rth who says this sh all b e man, this shall be

of explaining his point, h e mad e a drawing

woman ). Vira coc ha , Ticsicapac, and

(figs. 14-15 ) reproducing a depiction that

Tunupa are nam es of th e Andean creator

h e thought h ad adorned the prin cipal wall of th e sa n ctuary of Coricancha, th e Temple of th e Sun in In ca Cuzco. At

god. I-laving listed these names, Pac h ac uti Yamqui continues in Spanish: "Quiere

the center of the image, we see a co uple.

tierra aun esta plancha era simpl em ente

Vi ewing th e picture from the side of those who are d epi cted, th e man is at th e right

nosechava de ver que ymajen era p orqu e abia ssido planch a largo. como Rayos, dela

and th e woman at th e left. Above th em are

ResuRes ion d e J es u Xpo N Sor" (That

the sun , whom th e Inc as viewed as mal e,

m ea n s to say, ima ge of th e maker of

and th e moon, whom th e Incas viewed

h eaven and earth , although this image

as female, with th e morning and evening star, respectively. 45 Below are summer

was nonrepresentational. It was a large

stars, including Catachillay (that is, th e

Jes u s Christ, Our Lord ).47

Pleiades) and winter clouds with hail.

dez ir ym a jen d el h azedor del <;ielo y

disk, like rays from the res urrec tion of In the text accompanying this

Also appearing are lightning, a rainbow,

drawing, Pac ha c uti Yamqui explaine d

a river, moth er ea rth , mother sea, a spring,

that th e go ld disk represe nting th e

and a tree - in sh ort, th e sacred powers

Crea tor \Vas install ed in Coricanc h a

that Andean peopl e revered and that

by th e fourth In ca Mayta Capac, who

Perez Bocan egra listed in his confessional.

At the bottom of the drawing is a ch eck-

also devise d h ymns and son gs for th e

ered area with th e lab el "Collcampat a,"

which was celebra ted to mark th e

which was a sac red maize field in In ca

summ er solsti ce in D ece mber. H e

Cuzco known as "th e ga rden of th e Sun." 46

t au ght his p eo pl e to

prin cipal In ca festival of Capac Rai mi ,

conocer solo con el entendimiento

In ca Templ e of th e Sun . In th e ch oir loft,

por poderos o sen or y governador y por

this space is occ upied by th e door to the

h azedor m enospresiando a todas las

exte rnal balcony of th e c hurc h and is

cossas, elem entos y cri aturas mas altos

lab eled as "th e house of Goel, th e gate

co m o a los hombres y sol y lun a qu e aqui

of h eaven ."

los pin tare co m o estaban pu esto ... 48

Pach ac uti Yarn qui thou ght of th e Spa nish occ upation of C u zc o as a relig ious

Pa cha c uti Yamqui thu s d epicte d th e

event. H e h a d refl ecte d at len gth about

c osmos of th e In cas in precisely th e te rms

Christia n id eas, and e n ou gh time had

th at missiona ri es h a d la id clown : a supre m e

p assed sin ce th e Spanish h ad arrived for

d eity to b e conte mplate d b y th e intell ect,

th e viol en ce of th e invasion to b e set as id e .

rath er tha n b eing appreh e nde d b y sens e

H e thus imagine d th e Spa nish e ntry into

p erceptions, dominates th e unive rse. But

the Inca capital to h ave rese mbl ed on e of

at th e sa m e tim e, this uni ve rse conta in ed

the sol emn pro cessions that punctuated

all th e powe rs that sh ap e d life in th e

the ec clesias ti ca l yea r in his own clay4 9

And es .

a nd wrote :

The sp acial distribution of th e principal compon e nts of Pachacuti Yamqui's draw-

E l marqu es con el ynga en c ompafii a del

ing pa ralle ls th e distribution of compo-

sa nto E bangeli o de Jesu Xpo

n e nts on th e west wa ll of th e ch oir loft of

Se nor entraro n co n gran aparato rea l y

th e churc h of Anclahuaylillas. Pa c hacuti

p ompa d e gran m agestad y el marqu es

Yamqui's m a n and wom an are in th e space

co n sus ca nas y barbas largas

corresponding to that in th e c hoir loft

Represe ntava la perso na d el e mpe rad or

occupie d b y th e a n gel and M a ry, resp ec-

don ca rl os 5 y el padre fray vicente co n

tively. Th e oval disk representing th e c re-

su mitra y capa Represe ntava la person a

ator Vira c och a, Ti csicapac, or Tunupa,

d e sa n pedro pontifi ce Rom ano .. . y el

whi ch was "like th e rays of th e res urrecti on

d el ynga co n sus andas d e plumerias

of Jes u s," m atch es th e skylight with its

Ri cas co n el b estid o mas Ri co con su

insc ription and seven m e da lli on s refe rring

suntur pau ca r路 .. en la m an o co m o Rey.

to th e three p ersons of th e Trinity. At th e

. .. Al fin el dich o fray vicente ba derech o

bottom of Pac ha cuti Ya mqui 's drawing is

a co ri ca n ch a cassa h ech a de los yngas

Collcampat a, the "ga rd en of th e Sun" with

antiquissim os para el h aze dor al fin la ley

C orica n c h a, the "encl os ure of gold" a nd

de Dios y su sa nto Eva ngeli a tan desea do

uestro

*That is, "without making sacrifi ces": Pachac uti Yamqui means to say that th e rituals of th e Incas anticipa ted those of C hristianity, and that the In cas comprehended Goel as an immaterial being. In short, he was responding to missionari es who asserted th at Andean and In ca ritual and beli ef dealt only with th e material universe. **"know (God) with onl y th e intell ect as the powerful Lord and Rul er and Maker, setting as ide all oth er th ings, th e elements and the highes t creatures, li ke hu ma n bei ngs and th e sun and moon. T herefo re, I will pain t th em here just as th ey were." * * *Suntur /Jaucar ca n be tra nslated as "sceptre."

n8

entro a tomar la posecion a la nu eba ·- •so b ma.

b etween th ese two figures (fi g. 11 ), in th e space of th e skylight.

In su ch a co ntext, th e Annunciation of

The Co ri ca ncha of Pach acuti Yamqui 's

Anclahuaylillas eme rges as a thoroughly

drawing thus represented not simply th e

conventional image. It is only when we

Inc a Temple of the Sun but "th e house

place this image into the framework of its

built by th e an cient In cas for the Creator."

Expressed differently, Coricancha, as

own liturgical space, and view it from within that spa ce, thus placing th e Virgin

Pa chacuti Yamqui viewed matters, h ad in

on th e women's (left) side of the n ave of the

Inca times been "th e hou se of Goel, the

church, and Gabriel on the men's (right)

gate of h eave n," the place depi cted in th e choir loft of Anclahuaylillas .

side, that an Andean dimension begins to

Th e house of Goel and gate of h eaven

way labeled as "the house of Goel, the gate

em erge. But what happens then to the door-

was, originally, th e pl ace \vh ere Ja cob saw

of h eaven" that lea ds to the external bal-

th e angels of Goel ascending and descending on a ladd er that reach ed into h eaven . 51

cony of the church, away from the liturgical space in which people stood looking at the

It was also th e place where th e holy bones

main altar, which is to say, looking in the

of sa ints gave suppliants access to God's

other direction ? At Miraflores in Spain,

power by performing miracles. 52 In more

the doo rway lab eled the "bl essed gate of

gen eral terms, th e words refe rred to a pla ce of worship, as, for example, in the

h eaven" leads into the church, not out of it.

At Anclahuaylillas, however, this doorway

church of th e Carthusian monastery of

faces towards th e northeast, that is, towards

Miraflores on th e outskirts of Burgos in Old Castile, where th e baroqu e doorway

the open air and the rising sun. ow we com e to understand the

lea ding from th e n arth ex to th e church

uniquely Andean sense of this arrangem ent.

itself is inscrib ed with th e words "FELIX

In Inca times, people had greeted the rising

COELI PORTA" (Blessed ga te of h eaven ).53

sun, and this custom was still observed in

As for the d epi ction of th e Annunciation

Perez Bocan egra's clay. The rising sun , at

(fi g. 11 ) at Anclahuaylillas, with th e an gel

the same time, shines into the church of

at th e viewe r's left and th e Virgin at

Anclahuaylillas through the skylight that, as

th e right, it has countless European antece d en ts, many of whi ch place th e

we h ave seen , is insc ribed with epithets that refer to the Trinity. One of th ese epithets,

clove , representing the Holy Spirit,

"H e who rises," alludes to Christ, the rays of

*"The Marquess [Francisco Pizarro ] en tered into th e city with [Manco] Inca , in company of th e holy gospel of Jesus C hrist our Lord wi th great royal spl endor and pomp of great maj esty. T he Marquess with his wh ite hair and long beard represented the person of the emperor C harles V, and the father friar Vincent with his mitre and cope represented the person of Sa int Peter th e Roman pontiff ... and there was th e In ca in his litter adorned wi th feath erwork in his most spl endid ga rm ents, and the suntur paucar in his hand, as a king . ... In th e encl, Friar Vin cent went straight to Coricancha, th e house built by the ancient Incas for the Creator. In this way, the law of Goel and his hol y gospel, so much yearn ed for, entered to take possession of the new vineyard ."

whose resurrection, according to Pachacuti Yamqui , were discernibl e in th e gold en disk that adorned th e sanctuary of Coricancha.

The doorway of the choir loft at Andahuaylillas that is described as "the house of God, th e ga te of heaven " thus leads not only to the balcony of th e church, but also to Christ and to th e sun '\vho rises" concretely and physically every morning. The holy space encompassed in th e church of Andahuaylillas accordingly faces in t\;i,10 directions . Toward th e southwest is th e high altar in the sanctuary, the space of sacram ental action presided over by a Spanish priest. Facing toward th e north east and the rising sun is the Annunciation, superimposed on the Andean natural world that Pachacuti Yamqui sketch ed in his drawing. This natural world, as missionaries kept insisting, was not to be worshiped, but th ere was room for it in the church of Andahuaylillas.

Fig. 16. Virgin Mary. La Almudena, Cuzco.

In the late sixth century in Europe, Pope Gregory h ad thought that it was impossible

(In deposit for restora ti on, August 1995.

Photograph by th e au th or, by kind permission

to remove error from th e obdurate minds

of Dr. Ana Marfa Galvez Barrera.)

of idolaters all at once, this being a se ntiment that was echoed many times by missionaries in the Andes. 54 So very fr equ ently,

voice, these images are far from unique.

it seem ed that what Andean people chose

ubiquitous in And ean religious painting.

to hear was not what missionaries had

An image fr equently enc ountered in and

taught. Th e fixed , precisely defin ed , p erennial and un ch anging components of

around Cuzco depicts the Virgin Mary "clothed in the sun." Represented as the

Christian doctrine as preached and taught

woman with child whom John beh eld in

in catec hism class became fluid and

one of his apocalyptic visions, 55 Mary is

dynami c as soon as Andean people con sid-

surrounded by a golden oval of solar rays

ered and reproduced th em. The levels of Andean meaning di scernibl e in th e decora-

and by the many attributes that are enu-

tion of the church of Andahuaylillas are

of living water, the tower of D avid, th e

unusu al in their complexity and multiplic-

ladder of h eaven, and th e enclosed garden (fi g. 16).56 But who is to say whether th e

ity, but in speakin g with more than one 120

Ind eed , a ce rtain polysemous quality is

merated in h er litany, such as th e fountain

golden oval in this eighteenth-century painting from Cuzco is to be understood as one further rendering of an iconography that was often repeated in Spain and Europe, or whether it is a depiction of the aniconic Andean Creator who appears in Joan de Santacruz Pachacuti Yamqui 's sketch of the sanctuary wall of Coricancha?

And do \Ve discern, at the Virgin's feet, the enclosed garden of Medieval Marian piety, an orthodox image, or Collcampata, the garden of the Sun in Cuzco, a manifestation of yet another error held fast by obdurate minds? 57

1. Th e Ve nerable Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, eel . B. Colgrave and R. A. B. M ynors (Oxford, 1969), 1, 30. Roman imperial precedent existed for Pope Gregory's advice: a law of 408 C.E. withdrew public funding from paga n te mpl es an d ordered sacred images and altars to be re moved ; but "the buildings th em selves of the templ es, whi ch are to be found in citi es and towns, or outside towns, shall be cla im ed for publi c use." See Theodosiani Libri XVI cum constitutionibus Sirmondianis, ed. P. Kru eger and Th. Mommsen (Berlin , 1954), 16: 10, 19.

2. Jose de Acosta , De procuranda Indorum salute, ed.

L. Perefia et al. ( 1aclrid , 1984 ), bk. 1, c hap . 17, sec. 4.

3. For an exa mpl e of a trea tise written for missionari es working in the And es, see Luis Jeronimo Ore, Symbolo Catholico Indiana (Lima, 1598; facsimil e ed. Antoin e Tibesa r, Lima , 1992); for miss ionary practice and its outcomes during subseque nt generations, see Kenneth Mills, Idolatry and Its Enemies: Colonial Andean Religion and Extirpation, 1640- 1750 (Prin ceton, 1997), and, from a more ecclesiasti cal vantage point, Primitivo Tineo, Los concilios limenses en la evangelizaci6n latinoamericcma (Pamplona, 1990).

4. J. H . Rowe, An Introduction to the Archaeology of Cuzco, papers of th e Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 27, 2 (Ca mbridge, Mass., 1944), 26-39.

5. J. H . Rowe, "El piano mas antiguo <lei Cuzco: Dos parroquias de la ciudacl vistas en 1643 ," Historica 14 ( 1990): 367-78.

6. See Juan de Mati en zo, Cobierno del Pen! ( 1567), ed. G. Lohmann Vill e na (Paris and Lima, 1967), pt.1 , chap. 14.

7. Suc h, at any rate, was th e pe rception of th e Augustinian fri ars who evangelized Huamachuco; see

Relacion de la religion y ritos del Peru hecha par las padres Agustinos de Huamachuco , eel. Lucilia Castro de Trelles (Lima , 1992), esp. 20-21; S. MacCormack, "Ubi Ecclesia? Percepti ons of Medi~val Europe in Spanish America," Speculum 69 ( 1994): 74- 100, at 93 ff.

8. Doctrina Cristiana y catecismo para instrucci6n de las Indios ... (Lim a, 15 84; fa csimil e ed ., M adrid , 1985), serm on 1 , 103-4 . Th e serm on continu es listing sacred obj ects, in cluding fi gures of th e In ca (107); it e nds with re miniscen ces fro m Psalm 11 3 (Vulga te numbe ring), highlighting th e impo ten ce of idols: "Th ey h ave a m o uth and speak no t, eyes h ave th ey and see no t."

9. Fo r Juan Perez Boca n egra's career, see his Epistola introducing his Ritual, fomwlario e instituci6n de curas para administrar a las naturales de este Reyno, las santos sacramentos . . . (Lima, 163 1); Di ego de Esquivel y Navia, Noticias cronol6gicas de la Gran Ciudad del Cuzco, eel . F elix D en egri Luna, H oracio Villanu eva U rteaga, and Cesa r G uti errez Mufioz, 2 vols. (Lima 1980), 2: 31, 58; see also Bruce M annhe im , "A Na ti on Surround ed," in Native Traditions in the

Postconquest World: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, October 2-4, 1992, ed. E lizabeth Hill Boon e and To m C ummins (Washington , D .C, 1998), 383-4 20, a t 388ff.

10. As Perez Bocanegra was ca reful to point out in th e

Epistola (unpaginatecl ), addressed to the priests wh o ministe red to Indi ans, that prefa ces his Ritual. At the sam e time, in this Epistola, he offe red his services to those p ri ests in Pe ru wh o, as h e politely expressed it, " no estuvieren tan adelante en la inteligen c ia clel latin " (may n ot be so adva n ced in understanding Latin ).

11 . For a bri ef description of the church , see Jose cle M esa and Te resa G isbe rt, Historia de la pintura Cuzquefia (Lima, 198 2), 237ff., fi gs. 393- 98; Teresa G isbe rt, Iconografia y mitos indfgenas en el arte (La Paz, 1980), 31ff.

12. Perez Boca n egra, Ritual, 12.

13. Ibid ., 12, on baptism ; 564ff., on burial; see also 503ff. , fo r unc ti on and th e commendatio animae. T h e gilding of the high alta r gave rise to a seri es of confli cts and tensions in the village of Anclahuaylillas; see Arc hivo Arzobispal, C u zco, doc ument n o. 82, 4, 65, fol. 4; and n o. 76, 1, 5.

14. Perez Bocan egra, Ritual, 31.

15. Ibid ., 622.

122

16. See ma rri age pi c tures in Felipe G ua man Poma de Ayala, ueva cr6nica y buen gobiem o, ed . J. V. Murra, Rolena Adorn o, and Jorge L. U ri oste (M adrid , 1987), 442, 573, 6 17, with Perez Bocan egra , Ritual, 622. On th e m a rriage pi c tures, see furth er M . van de Guchte, "Inventi on and Ass imilati on: E uropea n E ngravings as M odels fo r th e Drawings of G uam an Poma de Ayala," in Guaman Poma de Ayala: The Colonial Art of an Andean Author ( ew York, 1992), 92-109, at 97ff. ; no te tha t the E uropea n m odels are inconsiste nt abo u t th e sides at whi c h groom and bride appea r.

17. Perez Boca n egra, Ritual, 46, "fi oqua m ma illa igui , arrna igui , challa iqui, chulla ic uigui "; see Gonzalez H olguin , p . 236 with p. 560, "lava r todas cosas, rnaylla ni rn aill a icc uni "; p. 34 with p. 56 1, "lava rse el c uerpo o bafi a rse. Armacuni "; p . 92, "Chhallani.

Rega r m enuclo o roziar asperjar"; a nd p . 11 9, "Ch allana. Ysopo o cosa con gu e se asperja o rocia."

18. Perez Boca n egra, Ritual, 46, with Guaman Pom a, 838, "Indios obligac io n de saverse" with a d rawing of a ba by girl (h eld on left arm ) being baptized by th e And ea n lay assista nt of th e priest: "n ogua sutiyagui , Juan , Dios yaya p, Di os Churip, Di os espiritu san tup sutinpi ." T his is precisely th e fo rmula (th e Quechua says "I name yo u") th at Perez Boca n egra did n ot app rove beca use th e essence of th e sacram ent was in the wa ter and th e washing, not in the nam e-giving. On Andean rituals of p urification , see M artin de Mun'.ia, Historia general del Peru, ed . M anu el BallesterosGa ibrois (M adrid, 196 1), bk. 2, ch ap. 30, fol. 26 l v; ch ap . 34, fol. 269. P erez Boca negra, Ritual, 13, stressed that the wa te r sh o uld be "agua verdacl era natural," wh e reby perhaps h e intend ed to integra te springs of water, whi ch were a m ong the sacred powers th at Andea n peopl e revered, into a C hristia n order of things. For th e salt, a noth er cleansing agent used in baptism (Ritual, 26), see J. Lath am , "Th e Religious Symbolism of Salt," Theologie historique 64 (Pa ris, 1982). In th e Andes also, salt was e ndowed with special attributes, sin ce o ne of th e brothers wh o e me rged wi th th e m ythic first In ca M an co Capac from th e cave of Pacaritam bo was call ed Ayar Cach e, whi ch tra nslates as Ayar "Salt"; see, e.g., Ped ro Sarmi ento de G amboa, in Historia Indica, ed . C . Saenz de Sa nta M a rfa (M adrid , 1965), chap. 11.

19. See Perez Boca negra, Ritual, 126ff., for questions to be addressed to pe nite nts when making th e ir confessions. The questions are a rranged by th e order of th e D ecalogue, with separate sec tions conta ining questions to be addressed to pe nite nts according to their stati on in life and occupati on. In th e sec ti on covering the First Commandment, question 3 (p . 145 ) enquires wh e th e r th e penitent h as mad e a confess ion to an "ic huri ," an Andean wise man ; and in qu estion 38 (p. 149), th e penitent is asked if h e or sh e has consulted Andean wise pe rsons to find lost objects; n ote h ere th e formulation "sabioc una," a n eologism from Spanish ("wise m en"), which is used along with Qu echua terms.

20. Ibid ., 176, 211, 262, respectively; see also th e sh orter confessionario published by the bish ops assembled for th e Third Council of Lima, in Doctrina

Cristiana y catecismo para instrucci6n de las Indios, op. c it., 203ff. (mod ern paginati on ).

21. Perez Bocanegra, Ritual, 111 ff.; ne ith er th e qu estioning, nor the emotio nal support were n ew ideas, of course; see Thomas Tentler, Sin and Confession on the Eve of the Reformation (Princeton, 1977). Rath e r, what di stinguish es Perez Boca n egra 's confessional from its antecedents is its de tail and th e fac t that questions focus o n th e sa m e sin from diffe rent va ntage points and in different contexts.

22. For th e passages h ere cited, selected from questions about th e First Commandment, see Perez Bocan egra, Ritual, 127ff.; 146ff. passim , question s 16, 32, 34, 48; see also qu esti ons 66, 67, 74, 75. For th e memory of the In ca, a much-repeated theme in catech eti cal literature, see qu esti ons 74, 90, 106, 11 5, with S. M acCormack, "Pach ac uti : Miracles, Punishm ents and Last Judgm ent: Visionary Past a nd P roph etic Future in Early Colonial Pe ru," American Historical Review 93( 4 ) ( 1988): 960-1006; Ana Marfa Lorancli , De quimeras, rebelliones y utopias: La gesta del inca Pedro Bohorques (Li ma, 1997); Alejandro Ortfz Rescaniere, De Adcmeva a Inkarri: Una vision indigena del Peru (Lima , 1973). The experie n ce of confess ion was not always what Perez Boca n egra had in mind: G uaman Pom a, 576, depicts a pri est kicking a n Andean woman who kneels before him m ak ing her confess ion, and his text dri ves h ome the nature of th e situation : "Bad confession m ade by the fathers and cura tes of missiona ry parish es. H e beats pregnant Indian wo m en an d old women and the men."

23. This central aspect of th e Christian m essage was e mphasized from th e very beginning and thus figures in th e ea rliest extant missionary exhortati on, entitl ed "Llapa runaco napac conasca," by Domingo d e Santo To m as, Gramatica o arte de la lengua general de las

Indios de las reynos del Peru: Nuevamente compuesta, fJOr el Maestro fray Domingo de S. Tomas (Valladolid , 1560; facsimile eel . Madrid, 1991), fols. 87-96.

24. Psalm 29:2; 96:9; see also I Chron. 16:29; II Chron.

20:21. I thank Professor Bernard M. Levinson for id entifying this quotation .

25. Perez Bocan egra was a learned man . Poss ibly, the refore, we ca n see in th e fact th at his church was d edicated to Saint Peter a con n ection with missionary pra ctice in earl y Medieval Europe where Bon iface, lacking any roots in the localiti es where h e was working, anch ored his own authority in th at of Pe te r by claiming for himself th e sa m e titl e (servus servo rum D e i) as Peter's successor, th e Pope. See Boniface, in Michael Tang], Die Briefe des Heiligen Bonifatius und Lullus (Muni ch , 1978), le tters 35, 38, 40, 41, 47, 50; see also letter 46, and Mi chael M oore, A Sacred

Kingdom: Royal and Episcopal Power among the Franks, 500-850 (Ann Arbor, forthcoming), chap . 4 .

26. These ca n vases appea r to elate from the tim e when th e Jesuits ran th e church.

27. For th e archdiocese of Lima , see Pi erre Duviols,

Cultura andina y represi6n: Procesos y visitas de idolatrias y hechicerias. Cajatambo, sigla A.'VII (C u zco, 1986), xxvii- lxxxvi; Juan Carlos Garcia Ca brera,

Ofensas a Dias. Pleitos e injurias: Causas de idolatrias y hechicerias. Cajatambo, siglas XVII-XIX (Lima , 1994), 17-79. Guaman Poma, 675, depicts a n Andean man being punished for adhering to Andea n d eiti es, in the presence of th e visitor of idolatries Cristobal de Albornoz, with wh om h e himself had worked as a yo ung man.

28. The norms governing representations of Goel, Christ, th e Trinity, angels, and sa ints were carefully and learnedly described by Francisco Pacheco, Arte de la Pintura (Seville, 1649); see now Francisco Pacheco,

Arte de la Pintwa: Edici6n, introducci6n y notas, eel. Bonaven tura Bassegocla i Hugas (Madrid, 1990), 559-737. The precepts h e re enuncia ted by Pacheco describe a visual universe that was somewhat distant from the tastes of the cap ital, for which see, Jonathan Brown, Kings and Connoissews: Collecting Art in Seventeenth-Century Europe (Princeton, 1995), ch ap.

3. But Pacheco's visual world was echoed, and his precepts implemented, albeit with modifications, by Andean painters; see Carol Damian, The Virgin of the Andes (Miami Beach , 1995 ). Further, Converging Cultwes: Art and Identity in Spanish America, eel. Diane Fane (New York, 1996) and, for independent th eolog ical thinking, even in Spain, Carlos Sanchez Rodriguez, Perfil de im hwnanista: Benito Arias Montano (Huelva, 1996), 96-99.

29. Gary Urton, At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky: An Andean Cosmology (Austin, 1981 ), 113- 27.

30. For the silver disk representing th e moon in Coricancha, the central sanctuary of th e Inca emp ire, see Garcilaso de la Vega the Inca, Comentarios reales de las Incas, eel. C. Saenz de Santa Maria (Madrid, 1963), pt. 1, bk. 3, chap. 21. According to Garcilaso, the mummified bodies of Inca qu eens stood at eith er side of th is disk. Garcilaso's d escription of Coricancha confl icts with ea rli er evid ence: cf. Rowe, Archaeology of Cuzco, 34ff. However, in the present context, the issue is not so much the accuracy of Garcilaso's testimony about the Inca past but rather th e symbols and images that moved his Andean contemporaries. See also Antonio de la Calanch a, Cor6nica moralizada del Orden de San Agustin en el Peru, eel. Ignacio Prado Pastor (Barcelona, 1639; Lima, 1974-198 1), bk. 2, chap. 19, 934, reporting a coastal myth, according to which nobles originated from an egg of gold , their wives from one of silver, whil e common people ca me from an egg of copper.

31. See R. T. Zuidema, "Catachillay: The Role of the Pleiacles and of the Southern Cross and a and ~ Centauri in the Calendar of the In cas," in Etlmoastronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the American Tropics , eel. A. F. Aveni and G. Urton ( ew York, 1982), 203-29; F. Salomon and G. L. Urioste, The Huarochiri

Manuscript: A Testament of Ancient and Colonial Andean Religion (Austin, 1991 ), chap. 29, 377, with editors' notes.

32 . For Mary "pulchra ut luna, elec ta ut sol," see G. Meersseman, Der 1-Iymnos Akathistos im Abendland: II. Grnss-Psalter, Grnss-Orationen, Gaude-Andachten und Litaneien (Freiburg, 1960), 168.

3 3. See Juan de Betanzos, Suma y narraci6n de las Incas , eel. Marfa de! Carmen Martin Rubio (Madrid, 1987), pt. 1, ch ap. 13, 60; chap. 14, 66; and, for the Coya, chap. 16, 78; see also Garcilaso, pt. 1, bk. 1, chap . 24, 37b. My discussion of the h ymn "H anaq pa chap kusikuynin" (Bliss of heaven ) is much indebted to Iannheim.

34. Perez Bocanegra, Ritual, 672, with Betanzos, pt. 1, ch ap . 6, 23; chap . 25 , 126; chap. 27, 132; see also Perez Bocanegra, Ritual, 691, about th e archangel Michael as lwacaichaquei, translatable as "guardian angel"; but the term can also refer to an armed guard of the Viceroy: "virreyta huacaychac apo, capitan de guarcla de virrey" (Gonzalez Holguin, 167). See also Ramon Mujica Pinilla, Angeles ap6crifos en la America Virreinal (Lima, 1992), 16lff.

35. Perez Bocanegra, Ritual, 690; Gonzalez Holguin, 78; Garcilaso, pt. 1, bk. 1, chap. 26, 39b: "Zapa Inca que es solo rey o solo emperaclor o solo sefior."

36. The issue was taken up by Garcilaso, pt. 1, bk. 7, chap. 3, where a missionary priest is reported to have asked: "Es posible queen una lengua tan barbara se pueclan cleclarar y hablar las palabras clivinas tan clulces y misteriosas?"

19. See Perez Boca negra, Ritual, l 26ff., for qu es ti ons to be addressed to penitents when making th e ir con fessions. Th e questions are a rra nged by th e o rde r of th e D ecalogue, with sepa ra te sections containing questio ns to b e addressed to penitents according to th eir stati on in life and occ upa ti on. In the secti on covering th e First Commandment, qu esti on 3 (p. 145) enquires whe th er th e pe nite nt h as made a confession to an "ichuri ," an Andean wise m a n; and in qu esti o n 38 (p. 149), th e penitent is asked if h e or sh e has consulted Andean wise persons to find lost objects; no te h ere th e formul ation "sabioc una," a n eolog ism fro m Spanish ("wise m en "), which is used along with Quechua te rms.

20. Ibid. , 176, 211 , 262, respecti vely; see also th e sh orter confessionario publish ed by the bish ops asse mbled for th e Third Coun cil of Lima, in Doctrina Cristiano y catecismo para instruccion de los Indios, op. cit., 203ff. (mod e rn pagina ti on ).

21. Perez Boca n egra, Ritual, 11 lff.; n eith er th e qu esti oning, n o r the emoti onal suppo rt were n ew id eas, of course; see Thomas Tentler, Sin and Confession on the Eve of the Reformation (Princeton , 1977). Rath e r, what di stinguish es Perez Boca negra's confessional from its antecedents is its de tail and th e fac t th at questions focus on th e sa m e sin fro m diffe rent va ntage points and in diffe re nt contexts.

23. This central aspect of th e Christian m essage was e mphas ized from th e very beginning and thus figures in th e earli es t exta nt missiona ry exh orta ti on, enti tl ed "Llapa run aco napa c conasca," by D omingo d e Santo Tom as, Gramatica o arte de la lengua general de los Indios de los reynos clel Peru: N tievamente comptlesta, por el Maestro fray Domingo de S. Tomas (Vall adolid, 1560; facsimile ed . M adrid, 1991), fols. 87-96.

24. Psalm 29:2; 96:9; see also I C hron. 16:29; II C hron .

20: 21. I thank Professor Bernard M . Levinson fo r id enti fying this quotation .

25 . Perez Boca negra was a learned m a n. Possibly, th erefore, we ca n see in the fact th at his churc h was dedicated to Saint Pe ter a con n ec ti on with miss ionary pra ctice in ea rl y M edieval Europe where Boniface, lacking any roots in th e localiti es where he was working, anch ored his own a uth ori ty in th a t of Pe ter by claiming for himself th e sa m e titl e (servus servo rum D e i) as Pete r's successor, th e Pop e. See Boni face, in Michael Ta ng!, Die Briefe des Heiligen Bonifatitls tlnd Llllllls (Muni c h , 1978), le tte rs 35, 38, 40, 41, 47, 50; see also lette r 46, and Mi ch ael M oo re, A Sacred Kingdom: Royal and EpiscofJal Power among the Franks, 500-850 (Ann Arbo r, forthcoming), ch ap . 4.

26. These can vases appea r to date from the tim e when the Jesuits ran the churc h.

22. Fo r th e passages h ere cited, selected from questions abo ut th e First Commandment, see Perez Bocan egra,

Ritual, 127ff. ; 146ff. passim , questio ns 16, 32, 34, 48; see also questi ons 66, 67, 74, 75. For the m e m ory of th e In ca, a much-repea ted theme in ca tech eti cal litera ture, see qu esti ons 74, 90, 106, 11 5, with S. M acCorm ack, "Pach ac uti : Miracles, Punishm ents and Las t Judgment: Visio nary Past a nd P roph etic Future in Early Colonial Pe ru ," American Historical Review 93( 4) ( 1988): 960-1006; Ana Marfa Lorandi , De qu fmeras, rebelliones y utopias: La gesta del inca Pedro Bohorques (Lima, 1997); Al e ja nd ro Ortiz Rescanie re, De Adaneva a Inkarrf: Una vision indfgena del Peni (Lima, 1973). The experi e n ce of confess ion was n ot always wh at Perez Boca negra had in mind : Guaman Pom a, 576, d epic ts a priest kicking a n Andean woman who kn eels before him making h e r confession, and his text dri ves h ome th e n ature of th e situa tion : "Bad confess ion made by the fa th ers and cura tes of missionary pa rish es. H e bea ts pregnant Indi an wo m en and old women a nd th e men."

27. For the arc hdi ocese of Lima, see Pi e rre Du viols, Cllltura andina y represion: Procesos y visitas de idolatrfas y hechicerfas. Cajatambo, siglo XVII (Cuzco, 1986), xxvii- lxxxvi; Juan Carlos Garcia Cabre ra, Ofensas a Dios. Pleitos e injllrias: Catlsas de idolatrfas y hechicerfas. Ca jatmnbo, siglos XVII- XIX (Lima, 1994), 17-79. G uam an Poma, 675, depi cts an Andean m a n being punish ed for adhering to And ean deiti es, in th e presen ce of th e visitor of idolatri es Cristobal de Albo rn oz, with whom h e himself h ad worked as a yo ung man.

37. Jose de Arriaga , in his influ ential trea tise

Extirpaci6n de la Idolatrfa en el Peru , in Cr6nicas Penwnas de Interes Indigena , eel . Esteve Barba (Madrid , 1968). Chapter 1 describes th e prevale nce of idolatry in the ea rl y seventeenth century, reitera ting the opinions expressed ea rli er by his fellow Jesuit Jose de Acosta ; cf. n . 2 above, bk. 1, c hap. 14. For th e context of this trea tise, see Francesco Leonardo Lisi, El tercer

concilio limense y la aculturaci6n de los indigenas sudamericcmos (Salamanca , 1990), 65-83. Both Acosta and Arriaga stressed th e importance of teaching and preaching in th e indige nous languages for th e purpose of achieving conversion and c riticized the lack of dedication with whi c h these tasks had been pursu ed . On th e extirpator Francisco de Avila , see Antonio Acosta, "Estuclio biografico sobre Francisco de Avila," in Gerald Taylor, Ritos y tradiciones de I-Iuarochiri del siglo A.'VII (Lima, 1987), 5 51-616; see also Teodoro Hampe Martin ez, Cultura barroca y extirpaci6n de

idolatrias: La biblioteca de Francisco de Avila, 1648 (C uzco, 1996).

38. Perez Bocan egra, Ritual, 126.

39. icholas Griffiths, The Cross and the Serpent: Repression and Resurgence in Colonial Peru ( orman, 1996). See also the admirably de ta il ed study by Kenn e th Mills, Idolatry and Its Enemies: Colonial

42. Garcilaso, pt. 1, bk. 1, chap. 16; on Anan c uzco, th e Cuzco of th e In ca rul e r, and Urincuzco, th e Cuzco of the Coya, his queen: th e founder Man co Capac inte nd ed that "los cl el Cuzco alto fu esen resp etados y teniclos como primoge nitos h ermanos mayores; y los de! bajo fu esen como hijos segunclos; yen suma, fuesen co mo el brazo clerecho y el izquierclo ... por haber siclo los de! alto atrafclos por el var6n y los de! bajo por la h em bra" (those of Upper Cuzco should be respec ted and regarded as first-born older brothe rs; and those of Lowe r Cuzco sh ould be as younger sons. And in sum, th ey were to be like the right and left arm ... because those of upper Cuzco were brought by th e m a n, and those of Lowe r Cuzco by th e woman).

4 3. Guaman Pom a, 12.

44. See ibid. , 50, on th e first human beings in th e Andes: "aclorava al Criaclor ... y no adoravan a los ydolos clemonios vacas" (th ey adored th e Creator . .. a nd th ey did not adore th e idols, demons, a nd huacas).

On the advent of C hristiani ty, brought to the And es by the apostle Bartholomew, ibid. , 92ff.

45 . For the femal e moon and th e male sun , see Garcilaso, pt. 1, bk. 2, chap. 1, 42a : "la luna h e rmana y muger clel sol ... maclre universal" (th e moon , sister and consort of th e sun ... universal moth er).

Andean Religion and Extirpation, 1640- 1750 (Princeton, 1997).

40. See, e.g., Perez Boca n egra , Ritual, 14: if th e consecra ted baptism al water freezes or is too cold, th e priest should add un consecrated hot wa ter.

41 . Th e bracketed le tte rs in the word "sa nc tus" are m y conj ecture. For th e Europea n background of "Oriens," see Ernst Kantorowi cz, "Pue r Exoriens: On th e Hypapante in th e Mosa ics of S. Maria Maggiore," in his Selected Studies (New York, 1965), 25-36, and ibid., "Ori ens Augusti-Lever du Roi ," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 17 (1963): 11 7-77.

46. Garcilaso, pt. 1, bk. 2, chap 22, 7 3a, desc ribes Collcampata as " jarclin cl el Sol"; see also bk. 5, chap. 2, 15 l a; on the barrio of the same name, in th e same part of Cuzco, see bk. 6, ch ap . 4, l 98a; bk. 6, chap. 24, 224b; bk. 7, ch ap . 8, 256b and 258a; bk. 7, chap. 10, 262a. Pachacuti Yamqui id en tifies Collcampata with the maize ga rde n of Coricanch a, which was adorned with maize plants crafted of gold; see Pedro C ieza de Le6n , Cr6nica del Peru: Segunda Parte, eel. Francesca Cant1::i (Lima , 1986), chap. 27, 8 1, and, more pi cturesquely, Garcilaso, pt. 1, bk. 3, chap . 24. A silver m a ize cob, which perhaps was intend ed for su ch a garden, is preserved in th e coll ections of th e Museum fi.ir Volkerkuncle in Berlin .

47. For sixteenth- and seventeenth-century discuss ions of th e cult i111age of Cori ca ncha as a si111pl e go Icl en disk, see S. M acCo r111 ack, Religion in the Andes: Vision and Imagination in Early Colonial Peru (Prin ceton, 199 1), 324.

53. T he phrase refe rs, in th e first instance, to the Virgin Mary, whose statu e stands over th e doo rway. In that this phrase i derived from th e words ofJacob in Gen. 28: 17, however, hi s cl ream is also referred to in this slight adaptati on of his words.

48. Joan cle Santacru z Pachacuti Ya111qui Salca111aygua, Relacion de antiguedades cleste reyno del Piru, eel .

P. Duviols and C . Iti er (C uzco, 1993), 207f. , fol. l 3r- l 3v: effectively, according to this auth or, th e solar disk had always been in Cori can cha and was merely restored by M ayta Capac.

54. C f. notes 6-9 above; also, Bern abe Cobo, Historia del nuevo mundo, in Biblioteca de autores espafzoles, eel. Francisco M ateos, vols. 9 l-92 (M adrid, 1964 ), bk.

11 , chap. 5, suggesting that such indi ca tions of civilization as were to be fo und in th e indigenous peoples of th e A111eri cas of hi s own time ha cl to be attributed to th e influence of "la cultura, virtue! y efi cacia cle nuestra sagracla religion." This opinion is not enti rely compatible with Cobo's evident acl111i rati on fo r In ca culture and statecraft.

49. See th e anony111ous desc ripti on of th e bea tifica ti on oflgnatius Loyola in 16 10, celebrated in C uzco by processions displaying images of In ca rulers, i111ages of sa ints and of Ignatius himself, in Ca rl os A. Ro111ero, Los Orfgenes del Periodismo en el Peni: De la relaci611 al diario (Lim a, 1940), 14-2 1.

50. Pachac uti Yarnqui , 268, fol. 43v, translati on slightly expand ed and adjusted for in telligibility.

51. G en. 28: 10-17. In the Bobbio Missal, this passage is cited as the first reading fo r th e dedi ca ti on of a church .

See E. A. Lowe, eel ., The Bobbio Missal: A Galliccm Mass-Book (M S. Paris. Lat. 13246) Text (Henry Bra dshaw Society, vol. 58) (London, 1920), 11 4.

I thank Mi chael Moore fo r drawing my attenti on to the Bobbio Missal.

52. For the to111b of Saint Martin of Tours as a "gate of heaven," see S. MacCormack, "Loca Sancta: T he O rga niza ti on of Sa creel Topography in Late Antiquity," in The Blessings of Pilgrimage, eel . R. O usterhout (U rbana, 1990), 7-40, at 17; see also Eclmont Le Blant,

Inscriptions cretie1111es de la Gaule anterieures au VIIIe siecle, vol. 1 (Paris, 1856), no. 177, insc ripti on over the triumph al arch of th e church of Saint Ma rtin in Tours: "QUAM METUENDUS EST LO US ISTE VERE TEMPLUM DEi

T he id ea that th e cleacl bodi es of holy persons give access to di vine power and perform miracles was fa mili ar in seventeenth-century Peru; see Calancha, Cor611ica moralizada, 15.

EST ET PORTA CO ELL"

116

5 5. Apoc. 12: 1.

56. G. Meersseman, 24, 30, 49, 56, 168, 169, 215, 219, 235 , 238, 245. I wa r111ly thank Dr. Ana M arfa Galvez Barrera of the Centro Interameri cano cle Restauraci6n cle Bienes C ulturales Muebles in C uzco for all owing me to see the painting here depicted whil e she was supervising its restorati on in 1995.

57. T he tra nsformati on and rein terpretati on of motifs an d iconographi es current in E uropean art into images that can sustain a distinctively Andea n mea ning is 111ore freq uen t than is often realized. For anoth er example, see th e eighteenth-century pai nting of Santa Rosa of Lima in the church of th e Convent of Sa nta C lara in C uzco: the sa in t is shown h olding a wrea th of roses surrou nding th e C hrist C h ild. Overtly, the painting depicts one of th e visions of this creole sa in t who appears to have given li ttle thought to Andea n people.

O ne ca n, however, read th e image as a reconfigura tion, perh aps by an And ean pain ter wh o was fa111ili ar with the In ca i111 age, housed in Cori ca ncha, of th e Sun portrayed in the guise of a young boy (see, e.g., Betanzos, pt. 1, chap . 11 , 51). T his image, sh owing th e boy ringed by a wrea th of sunrays, is depi cted in a drawing by Gua man Poma, 449. T his depiction of San ta Rosa with th e C hrist C hild in a wreath of roses is not unique; another eighteen th-century painting of thi s kind, fro111 Cuzco, was being restored by D r. Ana Marfa Galvez Barrera in August 1995.