History of Art in San Miguel de Allende: Ancient artworks

Published June 6, 2022

By Natalie Taylor

Most people are familiar with the art tradition established in San Miguel in the late 1930s with the founding of the Bellas Artes School of Fine Arts. But there already existed a strong pre-Hispanic, creative spirit, still present to this day in numerous artisanal products. When Spanish artists and craftsmen arrived, the mingling of the two cultures produced some amazing artworks. In this issue I will speak of three examples of the visual arts in our city, from the 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th centuries.

The first one is an ancient indigenous technique appropriated by the Spanish conquerors to sculpt Christian imagery. On the left wall of the Parroquia, just before the entrance to the Meditation Chapel, there is a wonderfully crafted, life-sized Jesus figure. It is most likely the oldest sculpture found in our city, and it was made by indigenous hands in Patzcuaro, Michoacan. Traditionally, Aztec warriors carried stone images of their gods to battle. Obviously, defeat almost certainly meant the loss of the gods because transporting them during a quick retreat was impossible. Therefore, the Tarascans developed a unique technique using dried corn stalks which were glued with a natural adhesive from a particular orchid, then bundled together with cords. Over a number of months, these dry bundles became a composite that could then be carved, colored, and varnished all with natural materials. This corn mass was then used to craft the gods that would accompany the warriors to battle. The resulting product could be made to appear realistic and quite beautiful, but above all, its weight would be minimal. The Spanish conquerors demanded that the Tarascans use the technique to make sculptures of saints for placement in churches. In 1564 the statue of Jesus, made with the aforementioned technique, had been commissioned and was being transported from Patzcuaro to San Miguel. The party, headed by two friars, was attacked by warring tribes called the Chichimecas. The two friars were killed, but the statue eventually was brought to San Miguel and placed where it is today. It is now 458 years old and, aside from some restorative work some years ago, is still in excellent shape. Its weight is around 12 lbs.

The second example is the work of Juan Rodriguez Juarez, who lived from 1675 to 1728. He came from a family of notable painters who had established their reputation in Spain. Juan was born in Mexico City, and like other artists in New Spain, he produced mainly religious art and portraits of high officials. A versatile artist who liked using brilliant colors on canvas, he is known for a series of paintings representing the different racial mixtures and the resulting caste of their progeny. The whole idea of caste is abhorrent to us in the present, but it was a reality of the hierarchy imposed by the Spaniards upon the colonies, his casta paintings are a pictorial record of those times. One prominent painting done by Juan Rodriguez Juarez is in San Miguel; it is a depiction of the circumcision of Jesus. The painting is dark because of its age and lack of restoration, but it can still be appreciated under the dome of Las Monjas on the right wall.

The final example is that of Miguel Antonio Martinez Pocasangre, a painter who was born in the early 1700s. He is best known for his murals on the walls and ceiling of the Sanctuary of Atotonilco—a work that took him 30 years to complete. These murals earned the church the title of “Sistine Chapel of Mexico.” However, we have two examples of his murals in San Miguel. The first is in what was originally the home of Felipe Neri Alfaro, the priest who contracted Pocasangre to paint the Sanctuary. It is now Hotel No-Name located on Hernandez Macias 52. In the central courtyard, beneath Moorish arches, are the original murals, fairly well preserved to this day. His other mural is within the private chapel of the de la Canal family in what was their original home, now the Instituto Allende. If you walk into the courtyard and follow the pathway under the arches on the right, you will come to the private chapel along the back wall. It is here, through the locked gate that you can look up and see the original paintings of Pocasangre on the ceiling and walls. The paintings are poorly preserved, and water damaged, but they are originals from the 18^th century. (More next week)

Natalie Taylor: BA in English Lit and Journalism, Loyola University, Chicago, 1995. MFA in Creative Writing, Vermont College, Montpelier, VT, 1999. Published writer, editor, journalist. Spanish teacher in the US, English teacher in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translator. www.natalietaylor.org Contact: tangonata@gmail.com