Tzintzuntzan: The Hospital chapel murals

Concluding our series on the murals of Tzintzuntzan we look at the painted walls of the arcaded hospital chapel of La Concepcion.

The Chapel of La Concepción (hospital chapel)

Raised on a terraced platform beside the church of The Third Order, this arcaded open air chapel (#9 on map) is all that remains of the 16th century mission hospital founded here by Bishop Quiroga. 

Like most hospital chapels, which were a fixture of most early mission complexes in Michoacán, it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in this case in her role as La Concepción—a favorite Franciscan devotion that we saw illustrated in the convento.

 

Two large, polychrome murals, thought to date from the late 1600s or early 1700s, occupy the walls of the chapel on either side of the arched sanctuary: first, the crowned Virgin of the Rosary with Souls in Purgatory, and a family style portrait of the young Mary with her parents and the Holy Trinity, all with bright red haloes. 

 

Two other partially restored murals adorn the side walls of the inner sanctuary. Also in color, with bright red, blue and green hues and flesh tones, they portray violent scenes of martyrdom.

text © 2019 Richard D. Perry

color images courtesy of Niccolò Brooker

Tzintzuntzan:The Sala de Profundis murals

We continue our review of the convento murals at Tzintzuntzan with a look at the surviving frescoes in the Sala de Profundis, or friars chapel/chapter room.

Saints Peter and Paul, patrons of the Franciscan province of Michoacán, appear on either side of the elegant carved entry to the Sala de Profundis. 

 

Both are shown as bearded young men, swathed in full length robes with their traditional attributes and deploy the customary red blue and green hues. Probably dating from the 1600s and much retouched, they are of mediocre quality. 

An adjacent, partial mural depicts La Purísima and the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception with portraits of its disputants: Franciscan Duns Scotus and Dominican Thomas Aquinas.

Text © 2019 Richard D. Perry

color images courtesy of Nick Brooker and Robt Jackson

Tzintzuntzan: Flying St Francis mural

Another distinctive if puzzling mural in the cloister at Tzintzuntzan shows what appears to be a winged St Francis? appearing to an unidentified kneeling figure that may again portray St. Anthony (perhaps as a postulant before acceptance into the Franciscan Order?). The buildings in the background may represent the Third Order chapel at Tzintzuntzan.

  

text © 2019 Richard D. Perry
images ©2017 Niccolo Brooker

Tzintzuntzan: Our Lady of Regla mural

In previous posts we described several of the unique colonial era murals on display in the mission complex at Tzintzuntzan, including those in the cloister.
   Here we look at another unusual fresco in the upper cloister that purports to represent the Our Lady of Regla - a very rare portrayal of the Virgin in this advocation, especially in Mexico, and to our knowledge unique in Mexican mural art.

The Dark Madonna (Cadiz. Spain)

Of Andalusian origin, this early advocation of the Virgin Mary, also known as the Dark Madonna, enjoyed popularity with seafarers and marginalized groups of color in Spain, Cuba and the Philippines over the centuries, especially since the 18th century, but found little following in Mexico. Her devotion there is commonly associated with the Count of Regla, an 18th century mining baron whose extensive silver hacienda in the state of Hidalgo is named for her.

The Virgin of Regla (Tzintzuntzan mural)

While the Tzintzuntzan portrayal follows some of the characteristic features of the image in the pose of the Virgin - she holds the Christ Child in her lap and is crowned, her head surrounded by a halo, or nimbus radiating golden rays - however, unlike other customary depictions in which her figure is presented against a neutral backdrop, here she is posed against a detailed landscape busy with churches and other buildings set against towering rock formations. 

In addition she is white faced and clothed simply in an almost ghostly plain bluish/white bell shaped robe conspicuously lacking any decorative detail or the rich embroidery common to her other images.
   Like other cloister murals at Tzintzuntzan, the fresco is bounded by a painted, burgundy colored frame, although color may have been a later addition to a once monochromatic treatment.

text © 2019 Richard D. Perry

color images courtesy of Niccolo Brooker

Tzintzuntzan: The Cloister murals 2

Following on from our previous post on the cloister murals, additional scenes, similarly framed, in the lower cloister and continuing in the upper cloister depict episodes from the life and miracles of the perennial Franciscan favorite St. Anthony of Padua with figures in 18th century dress.

Truth from the Lips of a Little Child

St Anthony with the Christ Child

Also extant in the upper cloister, are framed depictions of the Archangel Michael and the Virgin of El Pilar.

 

text © 2019 Richard D. Perry
images ©2017 Niccolo Brooker