Page 289 - Perú indígena y virreinal

Meanwhile, the old stepped terrace system of cultivation—andenes, or platforms as they were known locally—so appreciated by the first Spaniards to arrive, were gradually being turned into new neighbourhoods as the city began to spread outwards. This process sped up at the beginning of the 17th Century, even more so after the earthquake in 1650. If the old Inca barrio, or neighbourhood, behind the Cathedral had at first seemed attractive, the trend soon became to move to the suburbs, thus confirming the differences between the indigenous population and Spaniard when it came to use of space. The local people, perhaps because they were more accustomed to spending a greater time out of doors, needed less room in which to live. The demographic concentration of Incas changed greatly as the Spanish began to build their city.
The local population in the outlying barrios were not forced out or made to hand over properties. On the contrary, they were organised into parishes, respectful of their way of life. In other words, there was always a guaranteed and abundant workforce on hand to build houses as well as public and religious buildings. In almost the same way as had happened in Granada and Cordoba before, the Spanish city was superimposed onto the existing one, thus taking advantage of its prestigious buildings, its symbolic landmarks, as well as the road network both local and regional.
The alterations that were later made were more to do with political and functional changes, but above all, were due to the necessity of reconstruction after each major earthquake, such as those of 1650 and 1950 amongst others. Even today the visitor is still able to find Inca walls wherever one looks, from which it is possible to tell where the pre- Hispanic roads lay, very often in the same places as modern streets.
This collection of civil, military, religious and social history made Cusco a singular model in which the symbolic pre-Hispanic structures have merged with those brought by the conquistadors, making the city a fine example of integration.
Much of the past is still there today and the vestiges of that ancient imperial capital and it customs can still be seen. Neither the old rites nor the baroque spirit nor even the hazy distinction between what is civic and what is religious has been lost. Inca symbolism lives on, forever intertwined with its Christian counterpart.
the viceroyalty painting schools
Luis Eduardo Wuffarden
The art of painting burst onto the vast territory of Tawantinsuyo with unusual force. In 1533 while the Spanish captain Diego de Mora was painting the portrait of the Inca Atahualpa, the first religious panel paintings were being circulated to the amazement of the native population. A short time later professional painters provided impetus with workshops that taught Creoles, mestizos and indigenous Indians the painters’ craft. This was further enhanced by the contemporary fashion for prints, which proved a useful ally in the dissemination of the artistic forms, which would radically change the visual imagination of the Andes. Unlike the hermetic abstract geometricism that had dominated Inca art until that point, the Renaissance painting carried by the conquistadors was based on concepts such as perspective and the “rational” representation of the visible world. No specialist knowledge was required of any potential viewer of the work, it simply appealed to the spectator’s eye. Herein lay its modernity and its considerable ability to adapt to a society in the process of being born. Through this medium it was possible to express with the same efficiency all the particular forms of religion or the contrasting ethnic identities.
One of the determining factors in the development of the local schools of painting lay in the new administrative organisation of the viceroyalty. Lima and the coast had now become the centres of political power while Cusco retained its prestige as the former capital of Tawantinsuyo and the strategic crossroads for colonial trade in the South Andes.
As the capital and the seat of the court, Lima enjoyed a privileged relation with the most important artistic currents of the peninsula—be it due to the imported works of art or to the constant presence of European masters—which would later reach the interior of the viceroyalty. Cusco, by way of contrast, did not simply absorb the influences emanating from the capital, but developed its own particular tendencies, owing to its more peripheral position and in harmony with the large numbers of indigenous peoples among its population. This marked difference would have lasting consequences in the character of each of the emerging schools and in their respective areas of influence.
At the beginning the works which arrived at one or other of the cities simply reflected the old fashioned tastes or the devotional preferences of the conquistadors who now lived there. Generally they were of a Spanish-Flemish gothic style, most of them linked to the Andalusian popular invocations. As time went on, painters from the peninsula began to arrive and establish themselves in the viceroyalty, attracted by the growing demand for art in South America. One of the first was the Juan de Illescas el Viejo from Cordoba who lived in Lima from 1554 after having previously worked in Mexico and Quito. Illescas el Viejo was the first of a veritable dynasty of painters of the same name who are documented in the capital of the viceroyalty until the beginning of the following century.
For their part the neighbouring founders of Cusco saw the arrival of minor Spanish painters who began a steady stream of locally produced work. None of these artists left any lasting examples of their painting however. This falling into obscurity was due to the enormous impact of a group of Italian painters who arrived in the country during the last quarter of the 16th Century and whose work left a deep mark on the region of the South Andes.
ITALIAN DOMINATION
In reality it was the political stability created by the reforms under Viceroy Francisco de Toledo and the establishment of the Compañía de Jesús in 1558 which paved the way for the arrival of three Italian masters who would come to change the burgeoning Peruvian scene forever. Bernardo Bitti, Mateo Pérez de Alesio and Angelino Medoro arrived in Peru in 1575, 1589 and 1599 respectively. They represented the most advanced artistic tendencies which were in harmony with the evangelical needs of the vast viceroyalty. Their style was no longer mannerist but its opposite tendency, that is to say contramaniera and antimaniera. These “orthodox” tendencies—from the point of view of traditional worship—were those officially promulgated by the Catholic Church during the Counter-reformation after the Council of Trent.
A generation of disciples would ensure that the style started by these painters would last until at least the fourth decade of the century in almost all South America. Alesio’s art would find continuity in his son Adrian, painter and Dominican, as well as in his Roman follower Pedro Pablo Morón or those in Lima such as Domingo and Clemente Gil. Around 1628 an anonymous follower painted the mural decorations in the chapel of captain Villegas in the Church of La Merced, one of the most important works of its kind. Other of Alesio’s works travelled to Cusco and the southern Andes where the genre of devotional images was taken up with considerable force. For their part, the followers of the Jesuit Bitti continued his elegant devotional iconography in the same region. The workshop begun by Medoro in Lima extended its influence southward through apprentices such as the indigenous Pedro de Loayza or the Creole Luis de Riaño who moved to Cusco carrying with him sketches and studies taken directly from the work of the master.
INNOVATION AND ARCHAISM
As the first half of the 17th Century wore on, the initially unified style left by the Italian masters began to splinter. On one hand the old fashioned style of the first generation of local followers, especially in the South Andes, began to show signs of a fascinating process of engagement with the society around it. On the other hand the continual flow of new styles emanating from Europe foreshadowed imminent changes.
One of these innovations was the naturalism, which had its echoes in the most recent Spanish painting and with the presence of minor Spanish masters who had emigrated from the peninsula. Another important factor bringing about change was the
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