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MEXICO MAGICO
TRIUMPHS and TRAGEDY... A history of the Mexican people |
CHAPTER IV, The Forefathers - The Baroque Years (61th part continues...)
By Prof. German Estrada - August 2006 |
 Baroque meant religiously inspired art, scenes of angels, of saints and virgins, and of devout believers ascending to heaven, where God the Father, Christ, and the Holly Ghost awaited. Replete with mystical emotions, it was an art of the Counter-Reformation. The church, for practical reasons, prompted much of it, chiefly to build a large, powerful, but emotional base from which to combat the appeal of the Protestant Reformation. It was an art that no longer reflected the certainty of the sixteenth century, supremely confident that history was moving toward a universal Christian kingdom. The church was not the sole sponsor; the feudal aristocracy employed it to defend the status quo. Believe, accept the inevitable, do not question, and you will go to haven ---that was the message the elite wanted the poor to swallow. Conversely, the poor, probably in awe, looked to this art entrapped in religious themes to compensate for their misery and suffering on earth.
Art, whether Baroque or not, speaks eloquently of the attitudes of a social lass and, obviously, of theological and philosophical convictions reflecting the social and political reality of a people at a precise time in its history. Given this interpretation, the whys and wherefores of Baroque paining, which appeared just when medieval man’s faith in God and his view of the universe were being shaken by unanticipated discoveries, are clear. This was especially so in the cities, where the commercial revolution, urban growth, the discovery of the New World, Renascence ideas, and the emergence of modern science turned topsy-turvy ancient theological beliefs. The English, the Germans, and the French had, on more than one occasion, embraced heretical Protestantism. Even so, Spain, Luther and Calvin had listeners. The prevailing attitude was to question, to doubt, and to assert that man did not know the ultimate truth .
Faced with this challenge, the church mounted a counteroffensive, assigning art a pivotal role. By playing on the emotions, art had to hold the loyalty of the faithful and win over the skeptical. That, say savants, lay at the heart of Baroque painting. The rhetorical character of the Baroque reveals that art not longer stalked beauty for itself but, on the contrary, to keep Spaniards loyal to church and king. To be effective, it must be a popular art, understandable at first glance, as Diego Rivera would say three hundred year later, a stimulant to the visual senses and directed at the common folk. Art with a message made its bow to serve the goals of the church.
Baroque painting flourished everywhere. Generally speaking, artist belonged to two schools. Easel painters, a popular one, used oils on canvas, wood, and copper. Muralists, artist who painted on walls, formed another school; their labors covered walls and altars of churches, convents, and monasteries. Examples of their art date from the sixteenth century, at the Franciscan monastery in Cholula, where anonymous painters depicted the life of Saint Francis; on the walls of the fortress church of Acolman; and the convent of Oaxtepec in Morelos. On walls left unpainted, other artist hung portraits of bishops, archbishops, and saints galore.
 Of the pioneer painters, the two Alonzos, Vázquez and López de Herrera, stand out. Vázquez’s murals in the chapels of the viceregal palace and the university earned him praise; López de Herrera’s paintings included one of García Guerra, the flamboyant viceroy and archbishop. Quality took a turn for the better upon the arrival of Simón Pereyns, a native ob Amberes, who came to the New World by way of Toledo, where he painted alongside famous Spanish artists. Mostly a court painter, Pereyns left a plethora or portraits and religious pictures. Equally noteworthy, he established a school of distinguish painters, which included Francisco Zumayo, Francisco Morales, Andrés de Concha, and Juan de Arrue, he best known of them. It was at this time that Rodrigo de Cifuentes painted the famous portrait of Hernán Cortés.
In the next issue we’ll continue with Chapter V of this fascinating book, THE BAROQUE YEARS.
Prof. Germán Estrada
E-mail: estradanav@yahoo.com
Source: From the book Triumphs and Tragedy, a History of the Mexican People by his author Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, and with his authorization. (W.W. Norton & Company. New York-London).
Prof. Germán Estrada is the author of the best selling book, México Mágico: Everything You Wanted To Know About... But Nobody Told You..." available in Puerto Vallarta at The Net House, Mail Boxes, Etc., Books, Books as well as directly from his website.
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