Acolman: The Church Murals

This is the first in a survey of the colonial murals of Acolman, in tandem with posts on its architecture and sculpture on our sister site.

On the northern heights overlooking the Valley of Mexico close to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, stands the imposing monastery of San Agustín Acolman. Founded as a Franciscan house, in 1539 the monastery was ceded to the Augustinians who built their grand new priory around the Franciscan shell. The building is a formidable presence set in green cornfields framed by cool blue hills.
   Acolman is especially rich in murals from different colonial periods. Important, well preserved sequences of frescoes adorn the church and continue throughout the convento. We start with those in the church.

The Church Murals 

Inside the vast cool nave, the eye is immediately drawn towards the east end. Beneath an intricate web vault, the five-sided apse blazes with striking black, white and orange murals, that scale the walls and reach into the vault itself. Long covered by whitewash, the murals were rediscovered and restored in 1895.

 

Probably painted around 1600, the murals depict rows of gigantic figures of Augustinians seated on thrones. Above the bottom rank of lowly friars, stern-visaged cardinals and bishops line the two middle tiers, with popes at the top, an imposing hierarchy deliberately linked to the elevated position and traditional authority of the Order in the history of the Church. 

In the lunettes at the top, venerable apostles and Old Testament prophets sit uneasily among mythological figures borrowed from classical antiquity—naked youths, grotesque beasts and even prophetic sibyls—whose only other appearance is in the 16th century frescoes of the Casa del Deán in Puebla—all intended as further legitimizing sources for Augustinian authority, under question in the New World when the murals were painted.

   Overall, the apsidal frescoes recall the stairway murals at Actopan, and even those of the Sistine Chapel.

Vestiges of early murals survive in other corners of the church—we spotted this striking frieze fragment back of the choir loft with a foliated Leviathan like dragon.

text © 2018 Richard D. Perry

photography by the author, and courtesy of Marina Hayman and Carolyn Brown

The Epazoyucan murals: Two Lamentations

In an earlier post we looked at the polychrome murals in the cloister at Epazoyucan.
   Partly because of its highly emotional expression of grief, the Lamentation scene, which follows the Descent or Deposition of Christ from the cross, is one of the most widely depicted episodes in the Passion sequence. 
   Portrayals of the scene and its participants in art have changed with time and place, in Europe as in the New World and even within the same locale, as the two murals we examine at Epazoyucan can attest. 

The Cloister Mural
This mural is one of several to survive in the corner niches of the lower cloister. Several figures cluster about the dead Christ. Five are identifiable as saints, as evidence their haloes. 
   From the left, these are the youthful John the Evangelist, standing, and the three Marys, plus Mary Magdalene — the latter holding Christ's head, although she may alternatively be the figure in a red robe. 

 

The Virgin is of course in blue, holding the emaciated body, and the other two may be Mary of Cliopas or possibly St Anne in the background. The third woman may be Mary Salome, Mary, mother of James; or Mary of Bethany. The two secular figures standing on the right are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

   

Although the colors may have been altered over time, research has shown that the original mural was executed partially in color, with the blues and reds later much enhanced.

The Sala De Profundis
The second, similar depiction of the scene appears in the friar's chapel or Sala De Profundis, although with a slightly different cast of characters, and painted in a different style and hand.
   Executed in a warm grisaille, the treatment of the figures is less stylized than the cloister version, and its subtlety of line and modeling is its equal if not its superior. Both murals of course were executed by native Otomí artists under the friars' supervision.

While the specific graphic sources are unclear, both versions are derived from northern European prints and appear close to the widely known Albrecht Durer print of the episode.

text © 2018 Richard D. Perry.

color images by the author; details by Niccolò Brooker

Cuernavaca: The Crucifixion

In contrast to the more exotic murals of the church and cloister, the other remaining mural of note at Cuernavaca is more conventional in theme, style and coloration.

From the cathedral, a double passageway leads into the convento past a large Crucifixion mural, all that survives of what may once have been a larger, 16th century Passion cycle on the walls of the cloister. 

   Based on a Renaissance engraving, the Crucifixion scene is outlined in the customary grisaille tones enlivened with red accents—notably in the blood of Christ. Although His body has been partly effaced, the elegantly robed, but rather static figures of Mary and John are still intact. Roiling clouds, trees, rugged outcroppings and turreted palaces serve to enliven the landscape behind.

text and photography © 2018 Richard D. Perry

This is the last of our series on the murals of Cuernavaca cathedral: The Church Frescoes; The Open Chapel mural; The Spiritual Lineage; The Crucifixion;

In our next group of posts we survey the murals in the great Augustinian priory of San Agustín Acolman.

Cuernavaca Cathedral: The Spiritual Lineage of St. Francis

In an earlier post we analyzed an important fresco in the open chapel of the former Franciscan convento of Cuernavaca, now the cathedral. 
   The principal theme of that mural, St. Francis presenting the Rule of his Order to Pope Innocent III, is also portrayed, along with other episodes in Franciscan history, in another unique and complex fresco located in the adjacent cloister. 

The Cloister 
Simple channeled arches on all four sides sit on squat pillars with plain ring moldings around this early Franciscan cloister. 

Only fragments remain of the large murals that once lined the walks. Today, the best preserved of these is the so called Spiritual Lineage of St. Francis, in fact an extraordinarily detailed Franciscan martyrology in medieval style. (A Dominican version can be seen at Santiago Cuilapan)

The mural is bordered by the Franciscan knotted cord and flanked by fluttering angels similar to those in the north doorway.  Rows of diminutive nuns and friars, each holding a Latin name plaque, flank a center panel illustrating key scenes from the life of St. Francis, also copiously inscribed.  
   These comprise his appearance before the Pope Innocent—a reprise of the scene in the open chapel—and before the Bishop of Assisi. Above is his Stigmatization on Mount La Verna.

St Francis receiving the Stigmata

St Francis before Bishop Guido of Assisi 

St Francis before Pope Innocent III 

Fragments of other narrative scenes, part of a Passion sequence, cling above the doorways. Painted friezes of foliage, vines and pomegranates line the convento walks, again usually bordered by the Franciscan knotted cord. Miniature narrative scenes punctuate the friezes including a rare depiction of the Mass of St Gregory with the Arma Christi (other, larger examples can be seen at Cholula and Tepeapulco)

The Mass of St Gregory

text and images © 2018 Richard D. Perry
Other posts in our series on the murals of Cuernavaca cathedral: The Church Frescoes; The Open Chapel mural; The Spiritual Lineage; The Crucifixion;

Cuernavaca: The Church Frescoes

view of Cuernavaca cathedral

In the winter of 1529, the Franciscans moved into their rudimentary mission here, founded on a hilltop opposite the still unfinished Palace of Cortés. Almost five hundred years later, this enhanced religious landmark still serves Cuernavaca, now as its cathedral, whose magnificent tower is visible across the city.    

  

Cuernavaca cathedral.  the north door;  Aztec skull below the atrium cross

But despite its high, sunny location and attractive tree-shaded churchyard, the monastery retains a brooding 16th century aura. Images of sacrifice and death strike a chilling note throughout its precincts. These themes resound across the broad range of murals on display throughout the church and convento, but especially those in the church of The Assumption itself—one of the most exotic and unique cycle of frescoes in Mexico. 
   In the 1950s the new Bishop of Cuernavaca, Sergio Mendez Arceo, initiated sweeping changes to the interior of the church, renovations in line with the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council. This program, or limpieza as the bishop termed it, involved removal of the many old altarpieces and santos resting along the nave, a controversial process that led to the fortuitous discovery of whitewashed murals on the walls behind.

The Church Murals 

Japan was initially evangelized by Portuguese Jesuits as early as 1549, and flourished under the rule of the supreme warlord Nobunaga.  Spanish Franciscans followed in 1593, proselytizing in public and setting up as bitter rivals to the Jesuits, which angered Hideyoshi, the succeeding warlord, who had ordered a ban on Catholic missionaries some 10 years earlier.
   In October, 1596, a rich Spanish merchantman, sailing from Manila bound for Acapulco, was blown off course by a typhoon and forced to take refuge in a Japanese port. On board was a Mexican Franciscan, Brother Philip of Jesus, who was on his way to Mexico to be ordained. 
   Seized by suspicious warlords, he was sent with 25 other Christians, including six Franciscans and some Jesuits, to the court of Hideyoshi. Interrogated, mutilated and condemned as spies and heretics, the group was sent on a harrowing winter march to a hill outside Nagasaki to suffer the agony of crucifixion. Philip quickly succumbed. Although an accidental martyr he became revered as San Felipe de Jesús, the first Mexican born saint. 
   In the 1950s, as workmen stripped the centuries of accumulated furnishings from the cathedral to prepare for its renovation, fresco fragments suddenly came to light beneath the layers of dirt and whitewash. As the work proceeded. the scale and extent of the murals astounded the researchers. The discovery caused a sensation, creating almost overnight a national shrine to San Felipe.

Cuernavaca cathedral murals

Probably painted in the 1620s, these dramatic murals retell the story of the twenty-six Japanese Martyrs of Nagasaki in grisly detail. But why should the story of San Felipe have been told here in Cuernavaca? 
   By the end of the 16th century, the Spiritual Conquest of Mexico had been accomplished and the friars turned their attention to more distant lands, where the teeming islands of Asia including Japan and the recently explored Philippines presented new evangelical challenges. 
   The rambling monastery at Cuernavaca became the colonial gateway to the orient, the last staging post between Mexico City and the port of Acapulco. Here the friars prepared for the arduous missionary task, from which many would not return, including perhaps Philip himself. For the Franciscans, Philip of Jesus personified this spirit of selfless sacrifice, whose greatest reward was the martyr's crown.
   As in other Franciscan mural cycles, the glory of the Order through its history of many martyrs is a prime concern, as evidence the presence in the frescoes of other prominent Japanese Franciscan martyrs including ambassador Fray Juan Bautista, Fr Bartolomé Gutierrez and Fr. Bartolomé Laurel. 

These narrative frescoes are among the most ambitious, most complete and most original cycles of murals in colonial Mexico. They are also among the last, since by the early 1600s most murals were being whitewashed to make way for wooden altarpieces as the preferred medium for church embellishment and instruction.

 

Arrival of the martyrs by boat, details

Originally covering both sides of the nave along its entire length—75 feet long by 25 feet high—the murals were painted by an unknown artist in vivid blues, greens and warm earth colors—a far broader spectrum than the monochromatic murals in the convento.  Although now believed to be the work of native Mexican artists, the striking compositions show an Asian influence. The figures exhibit a flatness, strength of line and apparently authentic Japanese costuming and weaponry. 

The progress of the martyrs to their martyrdom unfolds on the walls in full and vivid detail. Stages in the journey are shown, by cart, on foot and by boat from the coast, through the cities of Kyoto, Osaka and Sakai, and then to the place of execution and crucifixion at Nagasaki. 

 

Schools of fanciful sea creatures swim among the boats and around the arches of the doorway, lightening the grim imagery of the narrative scenes. 

Despite their oriental feeling—the graphic source for this cycle of murals may have been the illustrated chronicle, Evangelization of the Philippines and Japan, published in 1601—in their draftsmanship and decorative detail they are clearly the work of a native Mexican artist.

text © 2018  Richard D. Perry

color images by the author, ELTB and courtesy of Carolyn Brown
Others in our series on the murals of Cuernavaca cathedral: The Church Frescoes; The Open Chapel mural; The Spiritual Lineage; The Crucifixion;

The Malinalco murals 4. St Augustine

This is the last of our posts on the Malinalco murals, more of an addendum really.
   As a major Augustinian priory it would be surprising if St Augustine, the founder of the Order, did not feature in the murals of the church and convento at Malinalco.  Although not prominently portrayed, he appears twice in the convento.

In the upper cloister, he is first seen kneeling arms crossed as a spectator in the Crucifixion scene. Voluminously robed in black, he wears his bishop's miter and clutches a crozier and staff. 

In the former prior's room, just beyond the upper cloister, we find a partial, retouched early mural of a bearded St. Augustine sheltering the members of his order, whose tonsured heads recede into the distance beneath his spreading cape. Again, he wears his bishop's miter but here holds a flaming torch.

text © 2018  Richard D. Perry.  images by the author and Robert Jackson 

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