Yucatán. the lost murals of San Bernardino

San Bernardino de Sisal is one of the handful of great 16th century Franciscan monasteries in Yucatán. Founded in 1552 and sited atop a vast underground cenote, it was dedicated to Bernardine of Siena the noted 15th-century Italian preacher and reformer, known as the "second founder" of the Franciscan Order.
   Among its other treasures, the church is noted for its remarkable group of wooden altarpieces, fabricated in a variety of styles that span the colonial period. We described these in a previous post.

The Sanctuary Murals
With the removal for restoration of two altarpieces that faced each other across the raised sanctuary, previously unknown murals were discovered in the niches behind the retablos. 
    Originally containing statuary, these decorated niches are thought to date from the 16th or early 17th centuries and are dramatically painted in bright tones of crimson, orange and a vibrant “Maya” blue.

Christ in Triumph
On the north side, the area above the sculpture niche is covered with a lively tableau illustrating Christ in Majesty.

Raising his cross, Christ wearing a red sash of triumph presides over a host of saints and martyrs. Larger portraits of individual saints extend down both sides.

Above and below the niche, a celestial orchestra of angels sing and play flutes and a variety of string instruments.

 

Female saints flank the niche on either side, of whom St. Catherine of Alexandria on the left, a Franciscan favorite, is best preserved.

The Baptism of Christ 
In the opposite niche, angels hold up a dark blue curtain in the center of which the Baptism is portrayed against a tapestry like fringed red ground. 

The naively drawn, near naked figures of Jesus and John the Baptist find an echo in the nude angels holding a lamb and a banner of triumph on either side below, while God the Father looks down from the arch above the niche amid celestial clouds and angels.

As in the previous mural, an orchestra of angels plays overhead.

Text © 2018 Richard D. Perry.  
mural images by the author, Niccolo Brooker and Charlotte Ekland

Yucatán. the Camarín murals at Tabí

Tabi, the sacred cenote and shrine chapel

One day in the early 1600s, the astounded villagers of Tabí, in eastern Yucatan, witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary rising from the town cenote, formerly sacred to an ancient Mayan water goddess. Soon afterwards, the Virgin miraculously reappeared, this time carrying to safety a horseman whose mount had lost its footing at the brink threatening to plunge him into the watery depths. 

The Virgin of Tabí

A painted image of the miracle-working Virgin of the Assumption soon became the focus of a popular cult, attracting followers here from across the region. This led to a large scale reconstruction of the church and, behind its beautiful, new main altarpiece, an elevated camarín to house the image of the Virgin.

Tabí, the restored camarín retablo (detail)

The Camarín Murals
Although the image of the Virgin has gone, a cycle of elaborate, later 17th century murals covers the walls of the empty camarín raised behind the main altar. Until recently in dire condition, together with the camarín retablo, they have been fully restored by the conservation agency Adopte una Obra de Arte.

Niccolò Brooker

Set in a dramatic matrix of swirling foliage with giant rocaille flourishes and floral strapwork, three large narrative panels adorn the upper walls of the rectangular chamber. 

    Vigorously drawn with sharply observed perspective and much anecdotal detail, and rendered in a narrow color range of red, brown and yellow ocher, with some blue areas, they illustrate events in the life of the Virgin in a rustic baroque style adapted from print sources.

The Presentation in the Temple (Niccolò Brooker)

Scenes include the Presentation in the Temple, on the south wall of the camarín, and a partial Flight from Jerusalem? on the north wall.

Flight from Jerusalem? detail (Niccolò Brooker)

The most arresting of the three panels depicts the Nativity of the Virgin. St. Anne, with the infant Mary in the child bed in the background, is attended by angels. These include, unusually, St. Michael at center, who spears a writhing, winged demon with his trident—a prophetic sign that the birth of the Virgin Mary will lead to the vanquishing of the Devil.

The Devil

Below the narrative panels, on the lower walls, life size folkloric angels in swirling robes sing songs of praise and play period wind instruments, including horns and a bassoon. 

 

Niccolò Brooker

The restored vault of the camarín is elaborately painted with passages of bold, writhing foliage in monochrome, crisscrossed by broad rib like bands. The sun and moon at the apex—symbols of the Virgin—provide the only touch of color.

text and graphic © 2018  Richard D. Perry
color images by the author, Niccolò Brooker and Adopte una Obra de Arte

other colonial murals in Yucatan: Dzidzantun; 

San Juan Tabaá - the Last Judgment

For another in our series on large paintings of the Last Judgment in Mexico, we turn to Oaxaca. One particularly fine and well preserved example recently came to our attention hanging in the church of San Juan Tabaá, located in the remote Sierra de Juárez of central Oaxaca—a region richly endowed with colonial art and artifacts of high quality. 

Created by a skilled, and so far unidentified artist, this vast canvas is dated 1746. It approaches the grand theme of the Last Judgment using traditional imagery but executed in a direct, popular manner alive with vivid color and detail.

 

The rounded upper layer of the painting shows Christ in Judgment flanked by the Virgin in her blue robe and John the Baptist?.

Below, the Archangel Michael stands with the ranks of the Blessed*—saints, bishops, friars, nuns—each elegantly costumed and seemingly individually portrayed, headed by St. Peter holding the keys to Heaven and John the Evangelist?.

At St. Michael's feet, angels blow fanciful horns summoning the dead to the Day of Judgment, while in dramatic scenes below, the dead struggle from their tombs in bewilderment.

In the middle left, angels usher the Saved towards their heavenly reward, while on the right the Damned are herded by demons into the gaping Jaws of Hell below.

Unlike the depictions of the Last Judgment we described at Jarácuaro and Ziracuaretiro, no musical angels appear at Tabáa—an omission more than compensated for in our view by the animated expressions and dramatic details we see in this colonial masterwork.

* By tradition the Patriarchs, Holy Virgins, and Sibyls to the right, and on the left, the Apostles, Martyrs and Prophets.

text © 2018 Richard D. Perry

photographic images © 2018 by Niccolò Brooker, 

who brought this work of art to our attention.  Gracias Niccolò!
Please review our previous posts with mention of the Last Judgment:  El Llanito; Totimehuacan; Suchixtlahuaca; Huaquechula; Yanhuitlan; Xoxoteco; Actopan; Cuitzeo; Ixmiquilpan; Jarácuaro; Ziracuaretiro;

Calpan: the posa murals

On our sister site we describe in detail the celebrated, sculpted posa chapels of San Andrés Calpan. Unfortunately virtually nothing now remains of the murals that once enlivened the convento or the chapels, although a few fragments of their decoration survive.

Like those at Huejotzingo, the posa interiors were once richly ornamented with colorful murals. A few passages, recently restored to some degree, still cling to the steeply pitched ceilings. 

 

These picture angels holding the Instruments of the Passion, portrayals that mirror and complement the carved reliefs of angels  on the eastern front of northwest posa.

Calpan. Northwest posa chapel (© Beverley Spears)

text © 2018 Richard D. Perry.  images courtesy of Patrice Schmitz and Beverley Spears.

Another Last Judgment: Ziracuaretiro

In our previous post on the church of Jarácuaro we described a hybrid painting of the Last Judgment hanging in the nave, with special mention of its portrayal of musicians, both angelic and demonic.

    A related painting, also notable for its detailed portraits of musicians, now hangs in the modern village church at nearby San Andrés Ziracuaretiro, "the place where the warmth ends and the cold starts." 

Like the Jarácuaro canvas, it is divided into three tiers. The lowest tier is the most dramatic, showing agonized souls in Purgatory and the dark underworld, some trapped in a cage—a striking touch.

 

Souls in Hell suffer torments inflicted by hideous demons and, as at Jarácuaro, a guitar playing devil seems to mock the sufferers.

As at Jarácuaro too, Christ Crucified dominates the crowded middle tier flanked by joyful hosts of the Elect and the Redeemed, with several noted saints and martyrs including saints Barbara and Catherine.

 
St. Catherine with her wheel, and St. Barbara with her tower.

Again, the Holy Trinity presides over the lively top tier, above a group of angelic musicians playing a variety of period instruments including a harp, bass guitar, horn, flute and once more a table organ.

 

A horned figure (Moses?) lays his hand on the arm of the harpist (King David?)

Dated 1830 by a partial inscription, the similarity of this remarkable painting to that at Jarácuaro strongly suggests a work by the same artist(s). It merits restoration to conserve its fine artistic quality as well as its intriguing details.

text © 2018 Richard D. Perry

color images courtesy of Robert Starner

Our thanks to Robert Starner, distinguished scholar of the pictorial representation of music, musicians and instruments in Mexican colonial art, for bringing this painting to our attention and providing the images on this page.

Please review our other posts with mention of the Last Judgment: El Llanito; Totimehuacan; Suchixtlahuaca; Huaquechula; Yanhuitlan; Xoxoteco; Actopan; Cuitzeo; Ixmiquilpan; Jarácuaro;