San Juan Teitipac: the Last Supper

San Juan Teitipac church front and convento entry

In our earlier posts on Teitipac we looked at the murals in the portería of the convento: the processional frescoes on the south wall and those of the Virgin of the Rosary on the north and east wall.
   Before the tragic destruction of the cloister, many of its walls were also decorated with murals, most of which have been lost. However, vestiges remain of some early examples in what is left of the former refectory, notably an extraordinary Last Supper fresco on the rear wall.
   For many years open to the weather, this mural has been largely washed away, save for some outlines and partial portraits of Christ and the Apostles, originally painted in a warm monochrome.

the Last Supper in 2005

Nevertheless, from these surviving fragments, we can still appreciate the refined draftsmanship, most noticeably in the sensitive treatment of the faces of the Apostles.

While the recent installation of a beamed roof on the room provided some protection, the repair work unfortunately contributed to the further damage to the mural, all the more of a loss since, unlike the portería frescoes, its unrestored state reveals the original skill of the anonymous native muralist.

the Last Supper in 2008

text and color images © 2018 Richard D. Perry. 

San Juan Teitipac: the North Wall murals

In our first post on the Teitipac murals, we described the dramatic sequence of 16th century processional frescoes adorning the south wall of the two-story vestibule just inside the entry portería. 
   These well known frescoes have attracted much commentary, but in this post we consider the largely ignored group of murals opposite, on the north wall of the portería.

The north wall frescoes: west to east

The North Wall frescoes
This cycle comprises three large scale murals. Although partially erased and still largely unrestored, as we shall see, they do not relate to the processional frescoes opposite. 

The center panel of the triptych illustrates the Annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist, the patron saint of the monastery.  A richly robed, kneeling figure, identifiable as the priest, prophet and father of St. John, Zechariah, waves a censer at an altar emblazoned with a large foliated cross. 
   A now partial San Gabriel rises in a cloud above the altar to announce the divine conception of John the Baptist to the incredulous Zechariah. 

An awed group kneel in prayer from the doorway of an adjacent temple.

The adjacent panel, nearest the west entry to the vestibule, is the least well preserved, although the details are fairly well outlined. 
   Here the event is the actual birth of John the Baptist. The hazy figure seated on the left again is the now mute Zacharias holding a book.  Above him, an attendant brings towels or warm water. 

The figure lying in the canopied bed above right is St. Elizabeth, the mother of John, while below, the infant, crowned with a halo, is held by the Virgin Mary amid a group of female attendants. 

The Dominican emblem of the foliated cross appears once more on the base of the center column.

The dramatic easterly panel, the best preserved of the three, portrays a reported dream of St. Dominic in Rome.* Christ sits in Judgment on a celestial cloud brandishing three arrows representing Famine, War and Pestilence—considered divine punishments for Pride, Avarice and Lust.

 

On the left, the Virgin Mary (standing) intercedes on behalf of St. Francis and St. Dominic who kneel, arms outstretched, below. 
Sun, moon and stars light the sky above Mary, and flames leap from the gaping mouth of Hell on the lower right. 
* Dominic was puzzled by the humble figure beside him in his vision. The following day he met Francis and realized that he was the person in the dream.

text © 2018 Richard D. Perry

photography © courtesy of Niccolò Brooker.  All rights reserved.

San Juan Teitipac. Our Lady of the Rosary

In our previous post we considered the processional murals on the south wall of the portería vestibule at Teitipac. 

The east wall, with the Virgin of the Rosary (l) and the Deposition (r) 

In this post we look at the other fresco on the east wall, beside the Descent from the Cross. 

Adoration of The Virgin of the Rosary

The subject of this mural is the Presentation of the Rosary by the Virgin Mary to St. Dominic, or Adoration of the Virgin of the Rosary.

 
St Dominic and his dog

Here, the partially effaced figure of Our Lady of the Rosary is raised on a crescent moon amid swirling celestial clouds. Large, dark rosary beads descend on either side. 
   Below are the kneeling figures of St. Dominic on the left, holding the rosary and accompanied by his red collared Dominican dog, and to the right, a Dominican nun in the same posture—probably St. Catherine of Siena.

St Catherine of Siena

As with the north wall murals, a plaque representing the foliated Dominican cross lies beside the saint, below the feet of the Virgin.

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text © 2018 Richard D. Perry
color photography © Niccolo Brooker

San Juan Teitipac: the Processional murals

In the 1570s, San Juan Teitipac was the dominant Dominican mission in Oaxaca's Tlacolula Valley, with four resident friars. Built atop an ancient Zapotec cemetery*, its vast atrium, with four corner posas, fronted the large cruciform church—a rarity in rural Oaxaca—and an imposing convento.
  While there are colonial treasures in the church, Teitipac’s chief claim to fame for visitors and scholars alike is the 16th century frescoes in the convento. This is the first of three posts on these early murals.

San Juan Teitipac

The Processional Murals

An arched portería on the south side of the church marks the entrance to the once substantial convento, of which little now remains. However, the two-story vestibule just inside the entry is a gallery of frescoes that include a dramatic sequence of processional murals in two tiers. These frescoes, which represent a reenactment of Holy Week ceremonies, were almost certainly sponsored by a local cofradía or religious brotherhood of the Santo Entierro, or Holy Sepulcher. 

view of the porteria and murals

Processional murals are exceedingly rare in Mexico—the only other examples being those in the church at Huejotzingo and the upper cloister at Huaquechula—both in Puebla and also painted at the behest of a local cofradía. 

   Recently partially restored, the Teitipac frescoes are painted in somber hues, predominantly cool black and earth colors with some red accents. 

The east wall of the porteria

Their position here in the convento entry—unique among the placement of such murals in Mexico—together with their depiction of actual doorways, suggest that the portería itself played a key role in early colonial ceremonies at Teitipac.

Descent from the Cross - detail

The sequence starts from a large, fairly well preserved Descent from the Cross, painted above the inner doorway on the east wall. Dominican friars, an unorthodox depiction for this scene, lower Christ’s body from the cross—painted bright red along with the accompanying ladders.

  

Virgin Mary and St. John;       Deposition from the Cross, engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi  (c. 1470 - c. 1527)

A poorly preserved Virgin of Sorrows and St. John the Evangelist look on from the sidelines. The overall composition is adapted from a popular print by the Italian engraver Marcantonio Raimundi.

south wall

Two tiers of processional scenes unfold along the south wall. 

south wall. lower tier

Below, a funeral cortege of Dominican friars proceeds westwards from a faux painted doorway, solemnly bearing aloft the body of Christ, accompanied by Mary Magdalene and assorted Spanish dignitaries and indigenous women. All the participants are boldly and realistically drawn with special attention to costume and facial expression. 

  

painted doorways: lower tier;  upper tier

south wall. upper tier (detail)

Along the upper tier, ghostly, hooded penitents in long, trailing robes walk in the opposite direction, holding candles, banners and various instruments of the Crucifixion, heading east towards another painted entry/exit. 

 

The recently cleaned murals on the north wall of the portería revolve around the Virgin Mary, the best preserved of which depicts the figure of Our Lady of the Rosary, a popular Dominican devotion, on the east wall—the subject of our next post.
* It is tempting to speculate that the obvious importance of this cofradía, a native brotherhood dedicated to the Holy Sepulcher, may be linked in some way to the prehispanic history of the site. 

text © 2018 Richard D. Perry

images by the author, Niccolò Brooker and Felipe Falcón

Colonial Mexican Murals

This month we mark the first anniversary of our specialized blog devoted to colonial Mexican mural art.
In addition to this past year's 51 posts (see sidebar) here are links to several earlier mural posts that appeared on our sister site:

Dzidzantún (Yucatán) 1 of 3

Epazoyucan (Hidalgo)
Metztitlan (Hidalgo)
Tepeji (Hidalgo)

Tepeapulco (Hidalgo)
Tlalmanalco (Edomex)

Tula (Hidalgo)
Tzintzuntzan (Michoacán)

Yecapixtla (Morelos)

Zempoala (Hidalgo)

Enjoy!  Richard Perry