HUATLATLAUCA: The convento murals 1

HUATLATLAUCA, the monastery front

Located in the Atlixco valley of southern Puebla state, this ancient community, whose name means "Place of the Red Eagle,” is the site of a little known but fascinating 16th century monastery, noted for its rich tequitqui carving. 
   Founded around 1550 by the Franciscan Order, who began work on the church, the monastery was later ceded to the Augustinians, who added the convento, with its colorful murals, in the 1570s—one of the last Augustinian mural programs. 
The Porteria
The church is flanked on the left by the former open chapel, currently blocked up, while the convento to the right is fronted by a long arcaded portería. 

Little remains of the murals that formerly lined its walls. On the south side, a fragment shows The Virgin and Child with a kneeling St Francis—the only heritage mural from the Franciscan era—and sections of a blue frieze with putti battling fantastic pegasus creatures!

The Cloister Murals
Recently restored, the peaceful cloister is simply enclosed by broad stone arcades set on bulbous Plateresque columns. Both the upper and lower cloister walks are lined with late 16th century frescoes and friezes.

The Lower Cloister
Here we find the greatest variety and quality. Although faded, the corner niches depict key scenes from the life of Christ: The Nativity, The Crucifixion and The Resurrection, rendered in a serene Renaissance style with muted blues and reds and framed by extensive friezes and festooned columns.

 

The Crucifixion fresco, although in much need of restoration, reveals fine draftsmanship as well as variety of color—orange, burgundy and turquoise. Friars and bishops kneel before a crucifix? in a cartouche of the complex frieze above. In the Resurrection, the risen Christ stands triumphant above an opened tomb, flanked by astonished onlookers.

In the fourth corner is an unexpected joint portrait of the two other Mendicant founders, St. Dominic and St. Francis, upholding the church. 

And another large corner mural, beside the Nativity, shows St Augustine as Protector of the Order, sheltering friars beneath his ample cloak, rendered in vivid tones of red, orange, blue and black. Over a center archway, the saint is portrayed with the child Jesus.
   But the main group of frescoes on the lower level, along the walks and between the arches of the cloister arcades, comprises numerous portraits of Augustinian saints and martyrs, famous and obscure alike—the most complete surviving gallery of Augustinian mural portraits in Mexico, although some are only partial.

 

Prominent figures include St. Thomas of Villanueva, William of Aquitaine, St. Boniface, Nicholas of Tolentino and St. Mónica. Others portray the Augustinian desert fathers or African martyrs as well some of the English martyrs. All are identified by at least partial inscriptions.
In our next post we look at the upper cloister murals.

text © 2019 Richard D. Perry. 
images by the author, Niccolo Brooker and Robert Jackson