In 1528 or 1529, Fray Juan de San Miguel visited Charo to baptize its leaders, who honored the distinguished Franciscan missionary by adopting the Archangel Michael as their patron saint.
The Franciscans however failed to establish a permanent mission and in 1550 Bishop Vasco de Quiroga ceded Charo to the Augustinians, provided that they build a monastery there.
Soon afterwards, Fray Pedro de San Gerónimo OSA arrived to congregate the Matlatzincas of the area into a traditional mission town with several barrios and a centrally located priory.
Fray Pedro chose a commanding hilltop site for the mission, and planned the new building down to the last detail. He is even credited with directing its extensive mural program—the principal glory of Charo.
Soon afterwards, Fray Pedro de San Gerónimo OSA arrived to congregate the Matlatzincas of the area into a traditional mission town with several barrios and a centrally located priory.
The Murals
The frescoes at Charo are the most complete and thematically diverse in Michoacán, and rank among the finest suites of 16th century murals to survive in Mexico. Entirely executed in burnished fresco secco, the murals feature the flowing outlines and sharply drawn details characteristic of monastic wall painting in Mexico, clearly revealing their source in European religious prints and book illustrations—at that time the only graphic sources readily available to the friars and native artists.
Painted by different hands at different times, the predominantly black and white murals are accented by flesh tones, blue and rose accents, with earth colors of ocher and burnt sienna. They fall into three main groups: the Passion cycle in the entry vestibule; the narrative cloister murals; and the extraordinary frescoes of the “refectory” or sala capitular?.
We begin our series of posts on the Charo murals with the Passion cycle in the entry vestibule:
The principals in the Passion drama, awkward in their heavily outlined robes, are posed in medieval landscapes of wooded hillsides and turreted buildings.
The frescoes at Charo are the most complete and thematically diverse in Michoacán, and rank among the finest suites of 16th century murals to survive in Mexico. Entirely executed in burnished fresco secco, the murals feature the flowing outlines and sharply drawn details characteristic of monastic wall painting in Mexico, clearly revealing their source in European religious prints and book illustrations—at that time the only graphic sources readily available to the friars and native artists.
Painted by different hands at different times, the predominantly black and white murals are accented by flesh tones, blue and rose accents, with earth colors of ocher and burnt sienna. They fall into three main groups: the Passion cycle in the entry vestibule; the narrative cloister murals; and the extraordinary frescoes of the “refectory” or sala capitular?.
We begin our series of posts on the Charo murals with the Passion cycle in the entry vestibule:
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| Entry porteria |
The Passion Cycle
Beyond the elegant arcaded portería, the anteporteria or narrow inner vestibule leads to the cloister. The scenes of Christ's Passion that line the walls of the vestibule are the earliest and most conventional of the murals in their themes and composition. The principals in the Passion drama, awkward in their heavily outlined robes, are posed in medieval landscapes of wooded hillsides and turreted buildings.
Four main panels—the Agony in the Garden, the Kiss of Judas, the Flagellation and the Mocking of Christ—line both sides of the passageway.
The Agony in the Garden
The Taking of Christ (Kiss of Judas)
The Flagellation
The Mocking of Christ (detail)
Text © 2019 Richard D. Perry.
images by the author and courtesy of Niccolò Brooker and Robert Jackson.
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