Mexican Murals: Metztitlan, the Tecpan eagle

 The Tecpan

This 16th century structure, also known as La Tercena or Cabildo de Indios, is located down the hill from the grand priory of Santos Reyes in Metztitlan (Hidalgo). 
   Although in colonial times this structure served several purposes, it was primarily the tecpan, a civic building that was the focus of indigenous activity and native leadership in the colonial community.    
   A modest building, it consisting of an open arcaded front and an earlier inner room — probably the oldest such tecpan to survive from colonial times in Mexico. Recently restored, it retains several architectural features of note, not the least being the carved spiral columns that form the entry arcade—features that signaled its importance. 

At one time covered with murals, now largely effaced, the walls of the inner chamber still retain a few distinguishable traces. 
   On the east wall, between a foliated upper frieze with shore birds and a running dado of painted, ornamental shell niches below, appears the unusual image of a large, turquoise hued eagle holding a scorpion in its beak; this is accompanied by an abbreviated Latin inscription: Iusta Ultio, or Final Justice—an image taken from the illustrated Emblemata of Andrea Alciato. 

This unique mural fragment and its accompanying inscription raises issues of interpretation.
   As a prominent symbol of patriotic pride and military valor in both Spanish and Aztec cultures, the eagle here may represent a power for good devouring the scorpion, often seen as a symbol of evil and diabolical intent (although the original text implied the opposite sentiment)
   Since the mural appears in a secular building and a center of native power, another reading may be the native Aztec eagle triumphing over the poisonous interloper, i.e: the Spanish colonists—a subversive indigenous twist!

The resemblance of the image to the mythic emblem of the Aztecs, later adopted for the Mexican flag, may thus be intentional.

text © 2016 Richard D. Perry.  mural images by Robert Jackson
see our other posts on Mexican Murals:  Cuautinchán; Xometla; Culhuacán; Zacualpan; 
Ozumba; Tlalmanalco; Ixmilquilpan; Mama;  Izucar; Tree murals; Tepeapulco; Tula; Epazoyucan; Zempoala; Yecapixtla;

Mexican Murals: St. Helen at Tula and Tepeji

St. Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great, is remembered, according to tradition, as the discoverer of the true cross, unearthed near Jerusalem following a dream. Together with her son, she was instrumental in the spread of Christianity during the late Roman empire.

   Although a notable historical and religious figure, she is infrequently shown in early Mexican murals. However two unusual portraits are found in the neighboring Franciscan monasteries of San José Tula and San Francisco Tepeji in the state of Hidalgo. 

First, at Tula, in a cloister fresco, Helen is portrayed as an empress, richly robed and wearing a crown. She holds up the rough hewn cross. Behind her to the left is a ziggurat style structure, probably representing the pagan temple erected by the Romans over the Holy Sepulcher, which she demolished to build a Christian church. Below the ziggurat, men labor to unearth the true cross buried there, according to legend.

In the large cloister mural at Tepeji, St. Helen appears again, still sumptuously robed although with no crown to indicate her royal status.  Here she holds a very large cross, tinted in a reddish brown hue. A palatial structure is shown behind her, although the poor condition of the fresco makes an identification problematic.  
   The Emperor Constantine is outlined in the adjacent panel, crowned and holding an ornate cross and the imperial scepter, while workers excavate the cross below. 
To our knowledge this paired portrayal of Helen and Constantine is unique among Mexican conventual murals.

text ©2016 Richard D. Perry. color images courtesy of Diana Roberts & Robert Jackson

see our other posts on Mexican Murals:  Cuautinchán; Xometla; Culhuacán; Zacualpan; 
Ozumba; Tlalmanalco; Ixmilquilpan; Mama;  Izucar; Tree murals; Tepeapulco; Tula; Epazoyucan; Zempoala; Yecapixtla;

Mexican Murals. Tzintzuntzan: two portraits (update)

San Francisco Tzintzuntzan 

Portraits of saints, martyrs and other notables, both biblical and connected to the religious orders, abound in early murals adorning the missions and conventos of Mexico. However it is rare to find portraits of specific persons in the places to which they are historically connected. 

   The grand monastery of Tzintzuntzan, beside Lake Patzcuaro in Michoacán, is even more unusual in that it contains mural portraits of two eminent Franciscans who worked and held important positions there and in the immediate area in early colonial times.

The first portrait is located in the arcaded porteria in front of the convento.  A black robed figure is identified in a ribbon style Spanish inscription as Fray Pedro de Pila, the builder of Tzintzuntzan and other area Franciscan missions.
   He is flanked by diminutive native and Spanish dignitaries rendered in a range of red, blue, green and earth and flesh tones that suggest a date in the early 1600s.  A second inscription, with a bishop's crozier and miter, quotes St Paul, “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth good works.”

The second mural, also in color and located on the main stairway to the upper cloister, portrays Fray Jácobo Daciano, a pioneering Franciscan and aristocratic founder of many missions in Michoacán, including nearby Tarecuato* where he is buried. 

   An associate and reputed mentor of Fray Pedro de Pila, Fray Jácobo is shown in his traditional apostolic guise as a pilgrim with cloak, staff and broad hat.

text, graphic and color images © 2016 Richard D. Perry
see our other posts on Mexican Murals:  Cuautinchán; Xometla; Culhuacán; Zacualpan; 
Ozumba; Tlalmanalco; Ixmilquilpan; Mama;  Izucar; Tree murals; Tepeapulco; Tula; Epazoyucan; Zempoala; Yecapixtla;
*for more on Tarecuato and Fray Jacobo Daciano see our guidebook Blue Lakes & Silver Cities

Yucatan, then and now: Santa Isabel Ticuch

We close our current series on Yucatán, Then and Now, with a look at the recently restored village church of Ticuch in eastern Yucatán.

  

Santa Isabel Ticuch: facade in 1984;  espadaña detail 2007

Located just east of Valladolid, Yucatan's second city, Santa Isabel Ticuch is the only regional church dedicated to this royal French saint, better known as Elizabeth of Portugal, a Franciscan tertiary.  
   Ticuch is noted for its elegant espadaña towering above the west front, fancifully detailed with ogival bell openings, unusual "slotted" scrolls, heart shaped pierced openings and topped with diminutive "mushroom" finials.

Ticuch: the nave exterior and abandoned camarín in 1984

The substantial church has recently undergone complete conservation and repainting, including restoration of the abandoned camarín of theVirgin at the rear.

  

The renovated church and camarín 2013

The conservation work at Ticuch, as with so many other restoration projects in Yucatan, was undertaken and completed with the dedicated professionalism of INAH restorer Cuauhtemoc Fernando Garcés Fierros with the usual support and dedication of the local chapter of Adopte una Obra de Arte, headed by the redoubtable Elva Villarreal de Garcia Ponce.

Elva Villarreal de Garcia Ponce with restored painting of Our Lady of the Rosary at Ticuch

text ©2016 Richard D. Perry. 1984 & 2007 color images of Ticuch by the author

for more on colonial Yucatán see our guidebook: