The Malinalco murals 3: the Upper Cloister

This is the third of our posts on the convento murals of San Salvador Malinalco.  In our previous posts we described the frescoes of the entry portería and the lower cloister. Here we look at the less well known and preserved cycle of narrative murals to survive in the upper cloister.

The upper cloister frescoes

 

The entire upper cloister is ringed along the walks by bright red geometric dados and foliated grotesque friezes, and like the entrance portico, the vaults are bright with painted coffering in the style of Serlio.
   While any original murals along the corridor walls have been erased or painted over, eight narrative murals have survived in the corner niches extending into the lunettes formed by the ribbed vaults. 
The Passion murals
The eight corner murals are devoted to a cycle of scenes from Christ's Passion, arranged broadly in sequence in a counter clockwise direction starting from the top of the stairwell in the southeast corner.
   As with Passion mural cycles we have seen elsewhere, these are rendered in traditional warm grisaille tones with faded red and orange/ocher accents. Most, too, are notable for their dark backgrounds which serve to draw attention to the various figures. 
   Several of the murals are marked by the presence of kneeling friars and eminent saints including St. Augustine, and all the murals are framed by ornamental, painted red columns—probably a later addition. 

   Unfortunately, most of the frescoes are now only partial; some remain in poor condition while others are unevenly retouched. Despite this, the sequence and themes of most of the frescoes are clear, with one exception.

Key pre-Crucifixion scenes include the partial fresco of Christ washing the feet of his disciples (2) with a headless St. Nicholas of Tolentino kneeling on the right. This infrequent scene is also portrayed at Franciscan Huejotzingo and Dominican Cuilapan.

And a highly retouched Agony in the Garden (1) features stylized local topography in the landscape. This scene includes the sleeping apostles—notably St. Peter with his machete! — and the figure of Christ echoed by a praying Augustinian? saint.

Then a Crucifixion (4) with the Three Marys and St. Augustine, set in an eerie landscape with celestial darkness and odd masked faces.

Next comes a partial Deposition (5) with St Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross and the partial figure of a cleric to the left. 
Then a similarly fragmentary Pietá (6) this time with St. Francis. 

The cycle is completed with a triumphant Resurrection (7). Christ rises from the tomb into the clouds raising the banner of Victory. Below two more kneeling friars flank a pair of falling Roman soldiers. 
The last scene of the Ascension (8) is almost entirely erased.

However, scene 3, located between Christ washing the feet of the disciples and the Crucifixion, is a puzzle. It depicts a kneeling, praying nun facing an unclothed but unmutilated figure of Christ seated sorrowfully above a large, burnt orange cross that spreads across the entire mural—its only colored element.

 

The iconography of the mural and its relation to the others in the cloister, are unclear. It has been thought to represent Christ contemplating his Crucifixion, which would be chronologically correct in the Passion sequence. However such a portrayal is rare, uncanonical and in fact unique in Mexican mural art.

God the Father surveys the scene from the upper left

Alternatively it might depict Mary Magdalene meeting Christ after the Crucifixion (Noli me Tangere) although this is out of sequence and the iconography is problematic. It might also conceivably portray St. Helen and the true cross, although again the iconography is unorthodox and out of keeping with the Passion theme. We welcome comments.

Unfortunately, the convento at Malinalco sustained damage during the September 2017 earthquake, especially in the vaulting of the upper cloister. No major effects on the murals have been reported.

text & graphics © 2018 Richard D. Perry

color images courtesy of Niccolò Brooker and Robert Jackson
* see Jeanette F. Peterson, The Paradise Garden Murals of Malinalco.  Univ of Texas 1993