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| shouting warriors armed with bow, arrow, shield, macana sword and trophy head |
In this post we attempt a description and survey of opinion on the so-called Battle frescoes that line the nave in an originally continuous frieze.
More than in any other colonial Mexican church, the painted nave of Ixmiquilpan allows us to glimpse the dynamic imagination and skill of indigenous artists at a rare moment when their traditional mode of visual expression was least restricted by European artistic canons.
The later 1500s were uncertain times for the residents of lxmiquilpan. Expansion of Spanish settlement and the development of the silver mines north of Mexico City brought the colonists and Otomí villagers of the region into sharp conflict with the nomadic Chichimec tribes of the northern mountains.
In the Chichimeca Wars, the colonial authorities made a concerted effort to eradicate these last pockets of resistance to Spanish rule. During the hostilities, mission towns were frequently targets of guerrilla raids and the fortress monasteries truly served a defensive purpose.
Even fifty years after the Conquest, conflict with marauding native warriors was still an immediate concern rather than a distant memory. Ixmiquilpan itself was attacked by fierce mounted tribesmen as late as 1569—an assault successfully repulsed by the Otomí in a celebrated local victory. These events, compounded by the acute problems of evangelization, must have preoccupied the Augustinian friars as well as the settled native people.
The battle scenes along the nave at Ixmiquilpan are indeed unique, all the more remarkable for their frankly prehispanic appearance; in their imagery, color and pictorial style the murals bear an uncanny resemblance to ancient temple decorations and codices. Clearly they are the work of a talented group of tlacuilos, or elite native artists, who were allowed unprecedented freedom of expression by the Augustinian friars.
Hidden for centuries beneath layers of yellow paint, these spectacular murals only came to light in the 1960s. The figures are drawn in a vivid graphic style and enhanced with red, brown and ocher passages. The foliage is blue-green against a rich apricot background. The use of flat color washes have a modern look, reminding some observers of the work of Picasso!
north wall of nave (after Wake) >
< south wall of nave (after Wake)
Starting from the narthex or underchoir, these large-scale murals proceed eastward towards the sanctuary along both sides of the nave. The solitary first figure on the south wall shouts and sounds a huehuetl drum, perhaps to start the battle.
The unfolding pattern is that of an antique grotesque style frieze, with urns, medallions and fantastic beings set amid continuous, undulating, turquoise acanthus foliage.
Although the battle scenes have a strongly stylized and ritualistic tone, they are also very animated; one can almost hear the clash of arms, the war whoops and the cries of the dying. In fact it has been suggested that the entire sequence is a pictorial analogy to Aztec war songs and chants.
The giant foliage in these friezes works both pictorially, as a device to integrate the forms and figures of the design, and thematically, as a sinister intrusion of the netherworld into the land of the living. This phytomorphic motif extends to the warriors themselves, who wear foliated skirts and whose copilli and speech scrolls also terminate in leaves.
Along the north frieze, plumed warriors subdue apparently pregnant women, who also emerge from giant acanthus buds. These bizarre figures may represent the cihuateteo—souls of women who died in child-birth—sent by the Aztec earth goddess, Cihuacoatl, to harass mortals and tempt them into sin. In fact the red and turquoise sky bands bordering the frescoes suggest that that celestial battles are being portrayed.
It is challenging to interpret these puzzling murals satisfactorily, although several explanations have been proposed.
For the friars they may have embodied the perennial Christian struggle between good and evil, between damnation and salvation—an obsession of the Augustinians during the turbulent 1570s.
The largely prehispanic imagery indicates that the murals were intended primarily for a native audience. While on one hand they may commemorate an historic, regional triumph of the Otomís over the invading Chichimecs, on a more covert level the murals may also have been viewed as celebrating the supremacy, both physical and spiritual, of the imperial Aztecs over their traditional enemies.
In fact, in 1482, Tizoc, the newly elected lord of Aztec Tenochtitlan, employed Otomi warriors from Actopan, Atotonilco, and Ixmiquilpan to mount a campaign against the independent city-state of nearby Metztitlan, in order to obtain sacrificial victims for his investiture.
The Ixmiquilpan frieze too, is startlingly reminiscent of the Maya influenced battle mural at Cacaxtla (Tlaxcala) dating from the late 7th century.
*BIBLIO
ABEL-TURBY, Mickey, “The New World Augustinians and Franciscans in Philosophical Opposition: The Visual Statement”, Colonial Latin American Review, 1996, vol. 5: 1
ALBORNOZ BUENO, Alicia, La memoria del olvido. Glifos y murales de la iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo: Teopan dedicado a Tezcatlipoca, Pachuca, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, 1994.
BALLESTEROS, Víctor, La iglesia y el convento de San Miguel Arcángel de Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, México, unam, 2000.
ESTRADA DE GERLERO, Elena, “El friso monumental de Itzmiquilpan”, Actes du XLII Congrès International des Américanistes, Paris, 2-9 September, 1976.
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| Narthex mural, south wall. figure with drum |
Although the battle scenes have a strongly stylized and ritualistic tone, they are also very animated; one can almost hear the clash of arms, the war whoops and the cries of the dying. In fact it has been suggested that the entire sequence is a pictorial analogy to Aztec war songs and chants.
The friezes graphically portray intense hand-to-hand combat between native warriors and various mythological and fantastic supernaturals as well as naked Chichimecs, complete with battle cries.
Chichichimec warriors
The combatants are two-dimensional, presented in outline with no modeling. Except for the eyes, anatomical details are shown in profile, and there are numerous authentic items of indigenous dress and gesture—speech scrolls, spotted jaguar robes and huaraches (native sandals) worn by centaurs. 
On the south wall, jaguar and coyote warriors outfitted with shields (chimalli) and obsidian-edged native swords (macanas) do furious battle with centaurs and dragon-like hippogriffs that emerge like obscene growths from the giant tendrils.
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| white centaur with copilli, bow, arrows and war shield |
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| crested yellow dragon with copilli and bow |
Along the north frieze, plumed warriors subdue apparently pregnant women, who also emerge from giant acanthus buds. These bizarre figures may represent the cihuateteo—souls of women who died in child-birth—sent by the Aztec earth goddess, Cihuacoatl, to harass mortals and tempt them into sin. In fact the red and turquoise sky bands bordering the frescoes suggest that that celestial battles are being portrayed.
Interpretations *
For the friars they may have embodied the perennial Christian struggle between good and evil, between damnation and salvation—an obsession of the Augustinians during the turbulent 1570s.
The largely prehispanic imagery indicates that the murals were intended primarily for a native audience. While on one hand they may commemorate an historic, regional triumph of the Otomís over the invading Chichimecs, on a more covert level the murals may also have been viewed as celebrating the supremacy, both physical and spiritual, of the imperial Aztecs over their traditional enemies.
In fact, in 1482, Tizoc, the newly elected lord of Aztec Tenochtitlan, employed Otomi warriors from Actopan, Atotonilco, and Ixmiquilpan to mount a campaign against the independent city-state of nearby Metztitlan, in order to obtain sacrificial victims for his investiture.
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| The "battle" frieze at Cacaxtla (detail) |
*BIBLIO
ABEL-TURBY, Mickey, “The New World Augustinians and Franciscans in Philosophical Opposition: The Visual Statement”, Colonial Latin American Review, 1996, vol. 5: 1
ALBORNOZ BUENO, Alicia, La memoria del olvido. Glifos y murales de la iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo: Teopan dedicado a Tezcatlipoca, Pachuca, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, 1994.
BALLESTEROS, Víctor, La iglesia y el convento de San Miguel Arcángel de Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, México, unam, 2000.
CARRILLO Y GARIEL, Abelardo, Ixmiquilpan, México, Dirección de
Monumentos Coloniales/INAH, 1961.
FRASER, Valerie, “Ixmiquilpan: from European ornament to Mexican picto- graph”, Altars and Idols: the life of the dead in Mexico, M.A. Gallery Studies catalogue, University of Essex, 1991,
GUERRERO GUERRERO, Raúl, Murales de Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, Gobierno del Estado de Hidalgo, 1992.
JACKSON, Robert H., Conflict and Conversion in Sixteenth Century Central Mexico: The Augustinian War on and Beyond the Chichimeca Frontier, European History and Culture E-Books Online, Collection 2013
NYE, Harriet, “The Talking Murals of Ixmiquilpan”, Mexico Quarterly Re- view, 1968, vol. 3: 2,
PIERCE, Donna L., “Identification of the Warriors in the Frescoes of Ixmiquilpan”, Research Center for the Arts and Humanities Review, 1981, vol. 4: 4, October, p. 1-8.
VERGARA HERNANDEZ, Arturo, Las pinturas del templo de Ixmiquilpan. ¿Evangelización, reivindicación indígena o propaganda de guerra? Hidalgo, Unam, 2010.
GUERRERO GUERRERO, Raúl, Murales de Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, Gobierno del Estado de Hidalgo, 1992.
JACKSON, Robert H., Conflict and Conversion in Sixteenth Century Central Mexico: The Augustinian War on and Beyond the Chichimeca Frontier, European History and Culture E-Books Online, Collection 2013
NYE, Harriet, “The Talking Murals of Ixmiquilpan”, Mexico Quarterly Re- view, 1968, vol. 3: 2,
PIERCE, Donna L., “Identification of the Warriors in the Frescoes of Ixmiquilpan”, Research Center for the Arts and Humanities Review, 1981, vol. 4: 4, October, p. 1-8.
VERGARA HERNANDEZ, Arturo, Las pinturas del templo de Ixmiquilpan. ¿Evangelización, reivindicación indígena o propaganda de guerra? Hidalgo, Unam, 2010.
WAKE, Eleanor, SACRED BOOKS AND SACRED SONGS FROM FORMER DAYS: SOURCING THE MURAL PAINTINGS AT SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL IXMIQUILPAN. Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl 31 (2000)
text & commentary © 2018 Richard D. Perry
color images by the author and Niccolo Brooker
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