ENGLISH
The Andean Baroque and the Cuzco School of Painting
During the "conquest" of America, with the arrival of European missionaries in the New World, several artists were commissioned to decorate churches that
were being built everywhere. This great demand for works of art created a need for the training of local artists, thus were born many Schools of art and the
Cuzco’s one, in Perú, was the most important. It followed Late Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque models, and the first important works were by Italians:
brother Jesuit Bernardo Bitti (from 1575), Matteo Perez de Alessio (who founded a “Experimental Center” in Lima, Perú) and Angelino Medoro (from 1600). Diego
Quispe Tito, the most famous artists of Cuzco, introduced landscapes, placed figures in lush vegetation with unreal, distorted perspectives, and added
tropical birds: these elements became characteristic of that School. Gradually, Cuzco’s artists broke away from European models and left the real world as
they advanced the narrative. They began to paint archangels wrapped in royal robes, that brandished firearms and were clothed in preciously decorated finery,
with jewels and rich golden rays on Madonna and Saints. In turn, this gave rise to the "Andean Baroque" or "Mestizo Style”, which created a precise local
iconography.
Amongst the most expressive topics of the Andean Schools of Painting are the extraordinary Series of angels: the Hierarchies, the Harquebusier Archangels,
and the Musician Archangels. In the first series, the demigods wear skirts, boots and sometimes also body armour, helmets, swords and shields, almost as if
they were members of the Roman legion. They are identified with the Spirits of Nature. In the second set, the Archangels dress according to the custom of the
Spanish military at the time of conquest, holding harquebuses, spears, halberds and flags: they are considered the protectors of the house. Finally, Archangel
Musicians are shown playing musical instruments of the Andean or European tradition. They wear Roman or Spanish clothing, and bring happiness into the homes
that host them.
The Andean people identified the Madonna with the Pacha Mama (Mother Earth), a divinity much revered. Her importance was maintained even after many were
converted to Christianity. Although Spain had established itself as the Viceroyalty of the Andean territories, the Virgin Mary was represented explicitly
as Mother Earth. A most prominent example is the painting from 1520 preserved in the “Museo de la Moneda” in the city of PotosÍ (Bolivia), where the figure
of Mary is inserted into the mountain crowned by the Trinity, while Pope Paul III, King Charles V of Spain, dignitaries and a native chieftain, kneel at her
feet. On either side of the mountain, the Sun and the Moon are represented with human faces, and the Earth is at her feet: these are very common elements of
sacred Inca iconography. The visible features of this syncretism is the triangular form of the Madonna, shaped like a mountain, the most obvious
representation of Mother Earth. These various Marian iconographic images, especially when accompanied by the Jesus Child, are associated with humankind
receiving nourishment and protection from the Pacha Mama, and in addition to food receiving shelter and refuge.
During the first Council of bishops, held in Lima (1551), rules were established and adopted for the evangelization of the natives. Thirty years later,
however, the third Council noted that idolatry was still widespread, due to the highly dramatic nature of the evangelizers’ campaign to oppose it. On the
one hand, the Dominicans and the Franciscans demanded the abolition of ancestral worship, and on the other, Jesuits and the Augustinians were trying to
find points of reconciliation between the two religions. In those instances, many amongst the conquerors and the indios shared the opinions expressed by the
Jesuit José de Acosta, that God's revelation was made to all men, identifying Wiracocha (the supreme deity of the Incas) with the God of Christianity, and
the Sun as his creation. This allowed for the maintenance and transmission of religious myths originally identified with by the indigenous population of
Santiago (St. James Major), for example, with Illapa, god of lightning and thunder, a clear testimony to this widespread attitude.
Even today, in Cuzco, several art laboratories continue to produce paintings interpreting the classic iconography of the past. The masters who lead the
workshops guide groups of artists who are each responsible for different parts of the work, and this eventually leads to the production of collective works
which are rarely signed. The peculiarity of these oil paintings is that they are not simple reproductions of ancient works, but variations of classical
iconography, whenever interpreted differently. This process is comparable to what happens in the implementation of Byzantine icons, where only a few
inspired masters can invent new images, but all artists inevitably bring something of their own.
In 2005, the Association “Studio d’Arte sul Barocco Andino” (SABA) (Art Studio on the Andean Baroque) was created with the intention of promoting this
art in Italy. The Association maintains the website http://www.baroccoandino.com, where information on its activities is provided. Through our research
on Contemporary Andean Baroque painting, as well as the diffusion of the paintings produced by Peruvian art laboratories, the Escuela Superior Autónoma de
Bellas Artes "Diego Quispe Tito” of Cuzco (ESABAC) has patronized all of the events organized by the SABA in Italy and Perú.