Colonial Antique Retablo Oil Painting Virgin of Mercy

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Description The emergence of painting in Spanish America during the viceregal era (1535-1825) was closely linked to the evangelization of the continent. In 1493 the Papal Donation of Pope Alexander VI granted the territories one hundred leagues “to the west and south of the so-called Azore and Cape Verde Islands” to the catholic monarchs of Spain, under the strict condition that they Christianize all the habitants of the recently discovered continent. To fulfill their promise to the papacy, the Spanish crown sent priests, secular clergy and members of religious orders to South America throughout the entire period of the occupation. It also saw that the colonists built them churches, convents, and supported them financially. By the 16th Century, it was clear that new techniques were needed to evangelize the indigenous people of South America, none of whom had written language. Both the Spanish missionaries in the field, and their superiors in Madrid, Rome, Antwerp, and other European centers, agreed that images – specifically paintings and engraving -would play a crucial role in the conversion of Indians. Creole painters and a few Indian ones began to increasingly play important roles, and toward the mid-seventeenth century, painting began to show the influence of indigenous cultures. This trend intensified seventeenth and eighteenth read more

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