Page 294 - Perú indígena y virreinal

devotion to the image of the Cristo de la Agonía, a subject he returned to time and time again. It is also probable that he had knowledge of the native languages as demonstrated by the presence of a book of Quechua grammar in the inventory of his possessions carried out in 1670.
The upsurge in the art of Cusco happened as a consequence of the great earthquake of 1650 and the rebuilding that began in the following years. A veteran joiner Martín de Torres led the way with the highly detailed sculpture that distinguishes the altarpieces of the period. Torre’s style is characterised by the use of Corinthian columns with the lower third decorated with scales or with diamonds. This style was so successful that it was also used for stonework as can be seen in the cloister of the convent of the order of La Merced, finished in 1663.
During the ecclesiastical administration of Manuel de Mollinedo y Angulo (1673–1699) the artistic work of the region gained a new impetus. Mollinedo encouraged the work of the indigenous craftsmen and this resulted in a real upsurge of religious sculpture in Cusco. The mixture of reverence and familiarity which defined the relationship between the devoted and their preferred images would help to determine, from then on, the gradual exacerbating of certain realistic details. The effigies of Christ, the Virgin or the patron saints would be elegantly robed, garlanded with jewels; they would have false eyelashes and teeth as well as wigs made from real hair, eyes of coloured glass and mirror-made palates. All of this imbued the genre with a character heavily marked by notes of tenderness and pathos.
It was at this time that the most popular devotional images had their “portraits” painted in great detail either on their altars or during their processional excursions. Frequently these statues became embroiled in the legends of those devoted to them, and they were often attributed with miraculous origins. The images were thus left in the vicinity of a monastery by “angel sculptors” or were washed up by the sea or showed themselves highly reluctant to be moved from a particular place, resisting all efforts to shift them. All of this, along with successive repainting, has made it very difficult to identify correctly images which often are not documented in any way.
A mayor figure of this period was Juan Tomás Tuyru Túpac, a member of the former Inca nobility like his contemporaries Quispe Tito or Santa Cruz Pumacallao. His documented works include architecture, joinery, gilding and sculpture. Among his best-known images is the Virgen de la Almudena which he carved for bishop Mollinedo in 1668 intended for the parish of the same name. Tuyru Túpac adapted to the European tastes of the bishop for this rounded bust made from cedar whose inspiration can be traced to Sevillian models.
The celebrated pulpit of San Blas (ca. 1690) is attributed to Tuyru Túpac, though without much evidence. This is a major work in a genre that was becoming popular as the rage for sacred oratory began to flourish in the region. Despite the luxuriant Baroque accents this pulpit has a carefully worked out iconographic scheme symbolising the triumph of the Catholic Church against the enemies of the faith. Its Churrigueresque architectonic framework and its decorative extravagance relate it to the pulpits of the cathedral, Belén, San Pedro and especially that of Checacupe, which Wethey considers to be by the same artist.
Towards the end of the century another indigenous artist, Melchor Guamán Mayta, extended the realistic tendencies even further. These were figures with bodies made from maguey which were clothed, while the faces were masks adorned with “natural” details. In 1712 Guamán made the image of San Francisco for the church of the same name with hands and head carved in cedar wood on a body of maguey. This artist is also credited with having made the popular effigies of San Cristóbal and San Sebastián, also representative of the sensationalist aesthetic of the time.
THE TRIUMPH OF THE CHURRIGUERESQUE
One of the most notable characteristics of the high Baroque was that of the use of the Salomonic style column in altarpieces. This key element spread rapidly from Lima and by the beginning of the 18th Century it had been adopted throughout the viceroyalty. It is probable that its introduction is owed to the Basque architect Diego de Aguirre, who was active in the capital from 1665 until his death in 1718. In 1675 Aguirre presented his project for the high altar of the cathedral in the form of a canopy. Although it was not used he himself would use the supports mentioned in later works. The Jesuits quickly took up this
new element which fitted in with the ostentation and richness which the order promulgated. Though lacking adequate documentation we can deduce that the eight golden Baroque altarpieces in the church of San Pedro are related to this artist.
Among the most productive followers of Aguirre we find the mestizo joiner José de Castilla. We do not know if he was a direct disciple but he took the same elements and helped consolidate the peculiarities of the Baroque altarpiece in Lima. In 1708 Castilla and his workshop had the task of furnishing the monastic church of Jesús María, a collection of gilded Churrigueresque altars that managed to escape completely the neo- classical reforming tendency, as did a similar series in the neighbouring village of Magdalena which is undoubtedly related to Castilla’s style.
The spread of Salomonic style altarpieces towards the interior did not take long. In Cusco the great joiner of the period was Juan Esteban Alvarez who dominated the entire period from 1685 to 1730 with his tireless activities. The school of Huamanga received, in its turn, a great boost with the work of José de Alvarado who moved from Lima in 1702 to work on altarpieces both churches for Santa Teresa and the Compañía de Jesús. Another important focus was in Arequipa where the work of Bernardo de Cárdenas is documented as author of the altar of San José and the temple of Santa Teresa, dated in 1732. Finally it is necessary to mention Fernando Collado, a mulatto sculptor who led the school of Baroque altarpieces in Trujillo whose masterpiece is the high altar of the Carmen monastery, finished in 1759.
THE RENEWAL OF THE LIMA SCULPTURE SCHOOL
In the middle of the 18th Century the figure of Baltasar Gavilán burst onto the Lima scene, a legendary mestizo figure with whom we can identify a renewed realist tone in the sculpture of the capital, which prior to this had become somewhat worn out with the stale repetition of Andalusian formulas. This realistic tendency would reach its apex with the processional figure of Death represented as an archer about to let his arrow fly.
The same artist is credited with the equestrian sculpture of Philip V which crowned the arch which was raised on the bridge over the river Rímac, and which was destroyed in the earthquake of 1746. This was the first monument in this genre in the American continent. Made of polychrome wood, the royal effigy and its architectural context were related to the temporary structures that the city continued to construct on the important festive or mourning occasions, with the participation of the best craftsmen and sculptors of the time.
In fact, sculptures like that of Death were found in the spectacular funeral celebrations dedicated to high dignitaries and members of the Spanish Royal Family. According to legend, as recorded by Ricardo Palma, the terrifying sight of the statue caused the death of the artist upon finishing it. Literary anecdotes aside, maybe we can identify Gavilán with the mestizo sculptor Baltasar Meléndez, the documented author of the kneeling statue of the viceroy archbishop Diego Morcillo y Rubio de Auñon (1743) in his funeral chapel in the cathedral, as well as another similar effigy of the Count of Santa Ana de las Torres. All these pieces demonstrate the peak of funerary sculpture of the period in the capital.
MOVING TOWARDS THE ROCOCO
The earthquake of 1746 marked the end of the Salomonic Baroque style in Lima. During the reconstruction work non-Hispanic influences could be seen, caused by the new cultural climate of the Bourbon reforms. In the new church of the Jesuit trainees—today the Panteón de los Próceres—the altarpieces and the pulpit show a curious interpretation of central European Baroque models. But the most interesting work of the period is the Creole version of the rocaille motifs in altarpieces where supports in the form of caryatids replace the Salomonic style columns and where gold is substituted by marble, or jasper in imitation of marble. The mulatto joiner Atanasio Contreras del Cid represents this tendency with his work on the altarpiece in San Sebastian church finished in 1776.
The altarpieces of the Nazarines temple, finished in 1771 under the patronage and supervision of viceroy Amat make up the most international and up to date work of its time. In them we find the search for a rational architectural structure which almost entirely excludes sculptural elements. The niches have imported images more in line with the intimate and sentimental religious impulse of the Spanish image makers after the work of
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