Mexican Murals. Ozumba: the portería murals

Ozumba, the portería

The venerable Franciscan convento at Ozumba, a small town south east of Mexico City in the shadow of the volcano Popocatépetl, dates from the middle years of the 16th century.  

Beyond its arcaded front (portería) lies a broad vestibule, or anteporteria, which is decorated with polychrome murals on all sides from floor to ceiling. 

Although these murals have been neglected, altered and repainted over time, and probably date from different periods, they remain an extraordinary and unique pictorial document of formative historical events in what has been called the Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, and the leading figures who participated.
The sequence consists of four main panels and two smaller ones that document the key episodes, in which the Franciscan Order played a leading role.

1.  Three Friars    

The first narrow fresco in the cycle inside the entry portrays the three original Flemish Franciscans to arrive in Mexico after the Conquest: Pedro de Gante, Fr. Juan de Tecto and Fr. Juan de Aora, precursors to the main Franciscan missionary cohort.

2. The Twelve with Cortés

Awaiting the Apostolic Twelve—the main Franciscan contingent to arrive in 1524—on the causeway leading into the city was the conquistador himself, Hernán Cortés, at the head of a retinue of high ranking Spaniards and native nobles. 
   To the astonishment of the assembled Indian lords, all the Spaniards, including the great Cortés himself, promptly fell to their knees before the humble friars, headed by Fray Martín de Valencia, their leader and future Guardian of nearby Tlalmanalco, thus emphasizing the importance of the Franciscans in the evangelization of Mexico. 

The Spaniards shown are leading conquistadors, including Cortés, Pedro de Alvarado and Raphael de Trejo, together with the Mercedarian friar Bartolome de Olmedo who accompanied Cortés to Mexico during the military conquest.

The native lords, although shown modestly dressed, hold flowers and may include portraits of leading Aztec nobles like Cuauhtémoc or Ixtilxochitl.

3.  The Arrival of the Twelve

On June 24, 1524, the main contingent of twelve ragged Franciscan friars finally reached Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the new capital of colonial New Spain, then rising from the ruins of the Aztec island city.  Exhausted, they had walked barefoot from Veracruz on the Gulf coast 250 miles to the east.  

The stupendous task assigned to these Apostolic Twelve, who had been sent at the specific request of Cortés, was no less than the evangelization and conversion to Catholicism of the vast native population of New Spain. 

The Twelve Franciscans shown include presumed portraits of all the friars as well as two lay brothers Juan de Palos and Andrés de Córdoba.

4.  St Francis and the Immaculate Conception

Above the doorway into the convento is a horizontal mural, probably a later, 17th century addition. This allegorical fresco shows St. Francis supporting an image of La Purísima, additionally burdened by the globes symbolizing the Three Franciscan Orders. 

He is flanked by Franciscan writers John Duns Scotus and Sor María de Agreda, supporters of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. 

5.  Los Niños Mártires

One of the best known episodes of the Spiritual Conquest is that of the Niños Martires. The story goes that shortly after the conquest, in 1527, Axotecatl, one of the Four Lords of Tlaxcala—allies of Cortés in the defeat of the Aztecs—sent his three sons to be educated in the Franciscan monastery of Tlaxcala.

On their return, the young men set about smashing idols and reproaching their father for his polygamy and excessive drinking. The enraged lord beat his son Cristóbal and burned him to death. The other two boys, Antonio and Juan, fled but continued their preaching and iconoclastic ways, until they too soon suffered a martyr's fate.   

The boy martyrs are identified by inscriptions and are shown in a rural landscape being killed by the villagers by different methods in graphic detail.  

Churches in the background represent the towns of Tecali and Tlaxcala itself.  Note the broken idol on the lower right.

6. The Apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe 

Another mural, a later addition, depicts details of the Apparitions of Guadalupe to Juan Diego on the Tepeyac hill.  On the left, the main illustration shows Juan Diego’s cloak, or tilma, imprinted with an image of the Virgin. Mexican Archbishop Zumárraga stoops to inspect the miracle and roses fall from the tilma (at one time probably a painted cloth, now effaced.) 

The remaining three Apparitions are shown in miniature on the right of the main panel.

7.  Flagellation of Cortés  

In the final, narrow panel, to the right inside the entry, Cortés is shown again, this time kneeling and being beaten by a friar in front of a group of native lords. A cautionary scene emphasizing Franciscan authority.

text © 2015  Richard D. Perry 

color images by the author, Niccolò Brooker and Alejandro Linares García 

Please see our previous posts on the murals at Epazoyucan; Tepeapulco; Tula; Yecapixtla and Zempoala.

Mexican Murals: Tlalmanalco

TLALMANALCO 

Place of Flattened Ground 

In the winter of 1534, a line of cowled friars bore the body of their beloved Fray Martin de Valencia to its final resting place beneath the earthen floor of the primitive mission church at San Luis Obispo Tlalmanalco, located at the foot of the snow-capped volcano of Ixtaccihuatl. 
   So ended Father Martin's ten eventful years as the moving force behind the Spiritual Conquest of Mexico. In 1524, as leader of the Franciscan Twelve, he undertook the awesome task of baptizing and converting the native masses to Christianity. After his death, as pilgrims flocked to the mission, popular demand mounted to erect a memorial to this venerated Franciscan pioneer. The famous, sculpted open chapel at Tlalmanalco is that memorial.  
   But our concern here is the murals in the convento, which also memorialize Fray Martin.

The Convento 
A wide pilgrim's portico of seven bays stands in front of the convento. It is entirely plain, conspicuously lacking the rich carving of the open chapel. 

However, vestiges of 16th century frescoes have been uncovered on the inner walls of the entry portería. The most interesting of these is the Arrival of the Twelve Franciscans, on the east wall, a partial fresco reminiscent of the more complete murals at nearby Ozumba. 
   Friars file forwards escorted by rows of Indians, Spaniards and musicians. The mural, of which only the heads of the figures remain, is bordered by charming friezes of fruit, flowers and symbolic creatures such as hares, cranes and dolphins.

In the nearby cloister ghostly traces of ancient frescoes adhere to the scarred walls of the walks. Supporting the corbels beneath the arches are an ox, an elephant and a bowed atlantean figure. 

Pigeons, rabbits, even an anteater, peer out at the visitor from friezes along the walls and around the door frames. 

The most complete and unique murals survive above adjacent doorways in the northwest corner of the cloister. The first pays tribute to Fray Martín de Valencia. 

Here the revered prelate and founder emerges with a beatific expression from a decorous tangle of vines sprouting "roses without thorns,” a reference to his exemplary life.

The almost identical* adjacent mural shows St. Clare.

* Note, some of the foliage in this mural has been identified as from a native psychotropic plant.

The Church Murals
During restoration and removal of altarpieces in the church, several earlier murals have been uncovered. 
   In fact the entire interior of the church seems to have been at one time covered with murals, some fragmentary and many overpainted  with multiple colors—red, orange, green, ocher and mauve—atop the original monochrome.  
   Although most are currently in poor condition, which makes their interpretation difficult, they appear to illustrate a variety of themes with biblical scenes and portraits of saints—possibly including that of Martín de Valencia.
   Full documentation and restoration of these murals is planned, at which time their date, content and significance will be made clearer. An exciting prospect.

text and images © 2015 by Richard D. Perry.   Exceptions noted

Please see our previous posts on the murals at Epazoyucan; Tepeapulco; Tula; Yecapixtla and Zempoala.

Mexican Murals: Mamá

In an earlier post we described the altarpieces of Mamá. Here we look at the recently uncovered sacristy murals there—some of the relatively few such colonial survivals in Yucatán.

Mamá: The Sacristy Murals

The principal discovery during the church restoration was the uncovering in the sacristy—part of the original 16th century mission—of several large scale, colorful frescoes, hidden for centuries behind coats of whitewash.

San Bernardino de Sena and decorative archway

Although the murals are undated, some may date back to the 1700s. As in many other polychrome murals of the era, the range of colors is bright but limited—predominantly blue, red/orange, ocher and other earth tones.

Divided image of St Christopher;                 St. Clare with archangel  

The often incomplete images include apparent representations of St. Christopher, and Franciscans St. Bernardino of Siena and St. Clare.

 

There are also portraits of seated Franciscans reading and writing, including the English schoolman Duns Scotus.

Duns Scotus and draped cross

A Yucatecan style draped cross is portrayed, in addition to painted arches and floral decoration.  

text and pictures © 2015 Richard D Perry

For complete details on the colonial churches of Yucatan consult our guidebook MAYA MISSIONS.

Please see our previous posts on the murals at Epazoyucan; Tepeapulco; Tula; Yecapixtla and Zempoala.

Mexican Murals: Izucar de Matamoros

We continue with our series on early murals in Mexican monasteries to look at the pivotal Dominican priory of Santo Domingo de Izucar, in Puebla.

Izucar de Matamoros

Located in the sub tropical lowlands of the state of Puebla, the busy town of Izucar may reflect in its name the dominant local industry since early colonial times of sugar production.
   The priory of Santo Domingo here became an important link in the long chain of Dominican missions that stretched from Mexico City as far as Guatemala.  Founded in the 1530s, by the 1550s because of its strategic location the mission was elevated into a priory, then consisting mainly of an ample stone convento and open chapel.  

The imposing church is later, added in the early 1600s and subsequently altered. After a disastrous fire in 1939 all the interior furnishing were lost, including many gilded colonial altarpieces (the handsome present retablos are thus modern, although close to the originals in style)  Only the broad, monolithic baptismal font, a former fountain, survived the holocaust.

The two storey cloister and its adjacent conventual rooms, however, survive little changed from the mid-16th century. Recent conservation of the original cloister walks included restoring some of the original murals, both in the cloister and the adjacent Sala de Profundis.

Architecturally, the cloister is in the classic Dominican mode, its  arcades framed by simple carved pillars and buttressed by exterior apron pilasters.  Complex ribbed vaults studded with plain, round ceiling bosses spring from drum corbels along the corridors and cluster in the corners.

Although the walls of the corridors were no doubt formerly covered with murals, today only the portraits of Dominican saints and martyrs survive, located in the lunettes above:

Blessed Johannes Torta

St Peter of Verona

Blessed Daniela of Orvieto

St Margaret of Hungary

Blessed Helen or Yolanda of Hungary

These include number of Dominican martyrs, some well known and others quite obscure, enclosed in a variety of ornamental painted frames and inscribed with their Latin names.

Sala de Profundis

Although the cloister murals represent only fragments of the original sequences, the extraordinary frescoes in the former Sala de Profundis beside the cloister have survived largely intact.

   Here, bloody scenes of martyrdom cover all four walls. Individual friars are depicted being tortured or dispatched in a variety of horrific ways—a cautionary, but inspirational, display for the Dominican brothers who came here to meditate, pray and prepare to meet the arduous and possibly threatening tasks of evangelization.

Such graphic scenes of torture and martyrdom are uncommon in Mexican churches and monasteries, the two other best known examples being those portraying the Martyrs of Japan at Cuernavaca and the African Augustinian martyrs at Charo (forthcoming features).

text © 2015 Richard D. Perry

mural photography courtesy of Diana Roberts ©2013 & 2014

Please see our previous posts on the murals at Epazoyucan; Tepeapulco; Tula; Yecapixtla and Zempoala.

Jalisco: Guadalajara, Jesús María

Closing out our series of posts on the churches around Guadalajara, we come full circle to visit the nun's church of Jesús María in the city center.

The 18th century church of Jesús María, located on a busy cross street in downtown Guadalajara, was built for the Dominican Tertiary nuns between 1760 and 1772.  

   Fortunately, the long, elegant nave exterior of warm, ocher cantera stone, divided by projecting “prow” buttresses, is somewhat protected from the traffic by its narrow forecourt enclosed by tall, ornamental wrought iron railings.

As a nun’s church, it possesses twin portals on its south side, whose handsome classical doorways are each surmounted by triple sculpture niches framed with composite half columns and prominent scalloped arches.  

The left hand gallery centers on a rather battered but delicately sculpted statue of the Virgin of Light—the gaping mouth of Leviathan beside her is still intact—flanked by the smaller figures of Saints Francis and Dominic.

The better preserved triptych on the right is a delightful tableau of the Holy Family, with Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child flanked by Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Virgin Mary. (A folksier version can be seen at outlying Santa Anita Atlixtac)  
   God the Father, in the clouds, links the figures of Mary and Joseph, while the dove of the Holy Spirit hovers between them.

© ELTB

Set into the buttress dividing the two portals is a niche containing a statuette of La Soledad, the Virgin of Sorrows.

                            
 St Christopher statues. Jesus Maria (l)   Santa Monica (r)  

A niche on the southeast corner houses a weary looking statue of St. Christopher, head inclined, bearing the chunky Christ Child on his other shoulder. With his muscular legs and massive staff, he contrasts with his more upright cousin at nearby Santa Mónica.

text © 2015 Richard D. Perry 

color images © by Peter Orlick except where noted
See our other posts in this series:  San Juan de Ocotán, Santa Anita Atlixtac, Santa Cruz de las Flores, Mezquitan, San Sebastianito, Tlajomulco and the churches around Lake Cajititlan.