Page 313 - Perú indígena y virreinal

of the 17th Century, important artistic changes were brought to Peru by Italian artists such as the Jesuit, Bernardo Bitti, Mateo Pérez de Alesio or Angelino Medoro, who settled in the country in 1575, 1589 and 1599 respectively. Soon after, the Peruvian art world was enriched by the influence of Spanish artists including Pacheco, Murillo, Zurbarán—as can be seen in the “Tribes of Israel” series in the Convent of Saint Francis as well as Cano y Montañés. Another important influence came from Flemish, Italian and German prints that were common in Peru at that time, most notably, those that came from Antwerp: during the 17th Century the work of Martín de Vos and Rubens was in most demand whereas in the 18th, the most popular prints were produced by Klauber.
Building upon the foundations of this input and yet without forgetting their own pre- Hispanic traditions, the indigenous Andean artist constructed their own aesthetic. The fruit that was art during the Peruvian Viceroyalty, therefore, grew not only from its widespread European influences, but also from the roots of pre-Columbine culture. It should not be forgotten that all over the pre-Hispanic Americas, art was an established part of culture and had reached great heights. This meant that European figurative language and artistic technique stood in contrast to indigenous form and method, leading to a process of cultural syncretism and “interbreeding” on a unforeseen scale.
The importance of the Cusco school, whose influence spread throughout the Andean region, was able to last so long, to a great extent, thanks to a large number of local artists like Diego Quispe Tito or Basilio de Santa Cruz Pumacallao among many others. The first was responsible for a syncretic aesthetic that re-interpreted European models from a Native American standpoint. The second, on the other hand, painted pieces that were far removed from any local perspective. Artists from Cusco produced pieces for Lima, Bolivia, Santiago de Chile and the Northern Argentina. Ecclesiastical imagery from Cusco also enjoyed a deserved reputation, employing a technique based on a mixture of maguey, papier-mâché and fabric soaked in plaster. Two sculptors stand out: Juan Tomás Tuyru Túpac and Melchor Guamán Maita. The 18th Century also saw the success in Cusco of the so-called Mestizo, or “Mixed” Baroque, the work of local, indigenous artists. In Lima, meanwhile, painting, typically portraying Viceroys and other members of the nobility, tended to be more oriented to the Court, with a style that suggested a Rococo aesthetic.
There was also a marked religious syncretism in Peru, owing to the re-interpretation of beliefs, rituals and icons and allowing local people to maintain their own spiritual traditions whilst keeping up Christian appearances. The presence of religious painters such as the previously mentioned Bernardo Bitti meant that the training of Native Americans worked on two levels, teaching them European artistic techniques as well as instructing them in counter-reformist iconography. Bitti was also a sculptor as one can see in his reredos and altarpieces that demonstrate clearly the extent to which he had to adapt himself to South American materials, such as maguey.
Alongside the technical and religious syncretism that we have seen, there was also a kind of geographical and scenic syncretism. Within the art world of the Peru of the Viceroys, the depiction of local flora and fauna was common, the style of the work covering various artistic genres.
Neither should the political syncretism be overlooked. The Spanish monarchy recognised Inca royalty in exchange for their loyalty. Thus, in the paintings that represent Peru’s governors, one can see how the emperor Charles V and his descendents succeeded the Inca kings whilst in those that show Inca genealogy one discovers how their blood line was mixed with that of the Spaniards in a clear attempt at westernisation. It is with this context in mind that one should analyse the various pieces that depict the union of the imperial Inca descent with the houses of Loyola and Borja. These paintings highlight the alliances that existed between the Inca aristocracy and the Spanish nobility, with the consent and active support of the Jesuits—the commissioners of these pieces. Here was a strategy that simultaneously greatly augmented the prestige of the Company of Jesus, whilst, at the same time, helping to consolidate the dominion of the Spanish monarchy. These genealogical paintings are also a show of pride on the part of the Inca nobility, a situation that lasted until the end of the 18th Century.
Similarly, the series of portraits of the Viceroys, held in Lima’s National Museum of Anthropology and History, had great political significance. The authorship of these paintings
is largely unknown, although many of them have been attributed to the 18th Century painter, Cristóbal Lozano. They are a series of official depictions of the Spanish king’s highest representatives and their style reflects the norms of political portraits so characteristic of the Spanish monarchy. The Peruvian subject who viewed them was confronted with a representation of the power of a dynasty that governed and actively ruled the viceroyalty.
With respect to sycretism in the world of books, there are two fundamental works that should be mentioned: the chronicle of the Native American Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala, Nueva cronica i buen gobierno and that by the Mercedarian priest Martín de Murúa, Historia General del Peru. The first, illustrated by Guamán Poma, is a long letter to Felipe III that allowed the indigenous voice to find itself again in the era of the Viceroys: in it the oppression and abuses suffered by local people are catalogued, although in a complex twist of Political syncretism, certain indigenous customs are also criticised. Somewhat naive and simplistic in style, it also makes extensive reference to the decorations found on keros, or ceremonial goblets used in libations. Murua’s work, on the other hand is a history of the Incas, its religion, customs and traditions. The text is accompanied by numerous watercolours whose similarity to the drawings of Guamán only serves to highlight the strong link that exists between the two chronicles.
territory, city and architecture
Ramón Gutiérrez
The good use of territory in Peru highlights for us the wisdom of the indigenous communities that established settlements, in a secular process, on the coast and on the plains, in the hills and the high mountains. Links between these three ecological levels strengthened a transversal circulation of goods, the exchange of services and products and allowed for power to be centralised in the capital’s hills region, Cusco.
The Spanish conquest partially dismantled this system. They moved the capital to the coast, to Lima, a newly built city, thus reinforcing links, via the port, with the Spanish metropolis. From the end of the 16th Century onwards, they also relocated the indigenous population, in a process known as “reductions”, something that was to alter forever the ancient balance.
Many of these “uprooted” communities lost their ancestral lands as these began to be incorporated into large estates in the hands of new landowners. The fleeing of native peoples from Spanish attacks and the imposition of the system of tributes—the so-called yanaconazgo—and various other forms of “personal services” led surveys in the latter years of the 17th Century to note “a new composition of the land” with migrations and resettlements that favoured the process of urbanisation and led to the creation of “foreign Indians”. Whatever the rights and wrongs of this, by the end of the 17th Century, the backbone of the old coast—mountain system had been lost, with each community, both rural and urban, tending towards self-sufficiency.
European ignorance towards the urban and territorial reality can be seen in the maps they made during the 16th and 17th Centuries. There are no city plans from the period that show the real layout of the city. The most one can find are idealised interpretations based on descriptions by chroniclers of the time. Recently, two partial parochial maps have been found, one of which is exhibited here, for the first time in public.
In other cases, such as that of Trujillo, renowned for its oval city walls dating from the 17th Century, the city became a kind of “ideal town”, well linked to the rest of the territory via an extensive road network, whilst its walls dictated the chessboard layout of its streets. Spanish conquest saw an intelligent appropriation of the Inca road system, which was strengthened by the building of new bridges, financed either by the administration or via tolls.
One of the keys to territorial reorganisation was linked to the economic evolution of the mining industry. Initially this was centred in Potosí, in the case of silver, and Huancavelica for mercury. Later other centres sprung up in the Arequipa, Puno, Carabaya,
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