EXHIBITIONS

José Campeche (Puerto Rican, 1751–1809). Doña María de los Dolores Gutiérrez del Mazo y Pérez, circa 1796. Oil on canvas, 34 x 25 in. (86 x 64 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Lilla Brown in memory of her husband, John W. Brown, by exchange, 2012.45.

Behind Closed Doors: Art in the Spanish American Home, 1492–1898 is organized by the Brooklyn Museum.

sometimes with local flourishes, such as mother-of-pearl inlay. Unlike their Japanese counterparts, biombos were often decorated with distinctly Western subject matter, often drawn from European engravings as sources. These rare screens are beautifully ornate, functional, and an exclusively New World phenomena.

Some of the most intriguing objects and artifacts in the exhibition are unique to the Americas and show the continued importance of Pre-Columbian culture. Anacus and uncus painstakingly handwoven tunics worn by elite Peruvian women and men, respectively, are forms that come from Inca tradition and iconography, and continued as markers of authority into the Colonial era. In Mexico, links to indigenous aristocracy still held sway in Colonial society, and illustrated genealogies, such as the Lienzo of Ihuitlan, or even painted portraits of ancestors could serve as visual evidence for claims to power. Race, class, and status were complicated, malleable traits in Colonial society, and often dependent on what one displayed, possessed, or consumed.

It is particularly exciting to bring Behind Closed Doors to The Ringling as it is an opportunity for us to also think about the Spanish Colonial legacy here in Florida. La Florida was part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1513–1763 and 1783–1821. Much of the material culture from Florida’s Colonial era has long since perished, and as a center of power Florida’s capital, St. Augustine, paled in splendor compared to Mexico or Lima. But perhaps it is not too far-fetched to imagine that some Colonial elites here in Florida shared the same tastes and sensibilities as their contemporaries across the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.