The logo for lesson 9 is Sor Juana

THE COLONIAL BAROQUE (Lesson 9)

Cultural-historical framework:	The Colonial Baroque: evolution and exaggeration of the Renaissance Cultural mestizaje (blending of European and Indigenous) The three colonial centuries between the Conquest (16C) and Independence (19C)
Approximate dates:	Middle of the 16th Century to Independence (early 19th Century)
Historical landmarks:	Three Centuries of tranquility under the Iberian crowns Outbreaks of rebellion; the Precursors (Tupac Amaru)
Literature:	The Baroque: word-plays, artificial ornamentation Profusion of details. Twisted phrases, conceits Focus on exotic geography and vegetation: cataloguing of types, colors, odors. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) Bernardo de Balbuena (1562-1627)
The arts:	Architecture: mainly religious (churches): Incredible profusion of ornamentation. Twisted columns; no straight lines. Vivid colors, dynamism, movement. Plateresque, Churrigueresque, Mudéjar Some Indigenous elements (cultural subversion?); use of feathers, Indigenous symbols and faces Painting: religious scenes in Churches Sculpture: religious; carved and painted statues of saints

Lesson 9: The Colonial Baroque

I. The Colonial Centuries

A. The accomplishment and the price

For an upper-class Spaniard living in the Colonial Centuries (from the end of the Conquest in the mid 1500's to the early 1800's) there was considerable cause for pride and satisfaction in the accomplishments of his or her nation. In the space of a half a century, a few thousand courageous and adventuresome Spaniards had created the geographically largest empire the world had ever known, stretching from the Golden Gate in San Francisco to the Strait of Magellan, Cape Horn, and unknown territories perhaps as far as the South Pole. Inspired by the success of the Reconquest struggle against the Moors, the Conquest of America was also a religious crusade in which the Roman Catholic religion was brought to millions of converts. And that "instrument of empire", the Castillian language, was the official tongue of this huge extension of territory. In Portuguese America the accomplishments were of lesser magnitude, but almost as impressive. Furthermore, these twin Iberian empires in the New World were to endure for three centuries, giving this region the longest period of stability it had ever known, or was likely to ever experience.

Fig. 9-1: Colonial elites

The price, of course, was the profound alteration, and in many cases destruction, of the political, social and cultural structures the Iberians found in America. One immediate effect in the first half-century was the population crash among the Indigenous peoples, followed by the brutality of the Black slave trade. For the rest of the Colonial period the prosperity and pride of the upper class Iberians was paid for by the labor of those who found themselves in the lower portions of the socio-economic pyramid.

The control and domination by the Iberians, although impressive, was not absolute. Behind the new Spanish-style cities, in the small villages and isolated communities of the countryside and mountains, a parallel society developed which preserved, as best it could, the pre-Columbian Indigenous heritage. This heritage was able to find expression in popular culture and even within the carefully controlled expressions of Iberian art and literature in the New World.

Fig 9-2: Indigenous

B. The structure

The key to the structure of Colonial America was the power and authority of the crown and its close ties to the Church. The belief in the divine right of kings was almost unanimous in this society. Power came from God through the Pope (his representative on earth) to the Catholic Kings of Europe. Within Iberia (and America) the Church was closely linked to the crown, and the monarchs had the power to name and control Church authorities. The political-religious system was highly authoritarian and (in theory at least) centralized. The monarchs selected their principal representatives in the Americas, the viceroys, who in turn chose lesser authorities. There was little grass-roots democracy, except in a very limited way at the municipal level in the "cabildos" (local town government bodies).

Fig. 9-3: Colonial power

In practice, the power of the Iberian monarchs was limited by geographical and political realities. It took a long time to communicate a royal edict from Iberia to America, and by the time it reached those who would actually implement it there were many opportunities for individualism and subjective interpretations to modify the monarchs' intent. A popular Spanish saying captures this spirit: "obedezco pero no cumplo" (I obey, but I do not enforce).

In a sense, this attitude was the continuation of the independent attitudes of the early conquistadores and adelantados, who felt that they were the ones who were making the sacrifices, and not the bureaucrats in Madrid or Lisbon. Thus, they deserved the rewards and benefits of their courageous deeds. At first this focused on the looting and pillaging of the precious metals they found in the empires of the Aztecs and the Incas. Once these activities peaked and declined, attention shifted to the profits that would come out of the mines and fields. For this the New World Iberians needed land and labor. Initially the land and labor (in the form of the Indigenous who lived on it) came as a package: the monarch, through the institution of the "encomienda", awarded the conquistador and his family a grant of land and "commended" the Indians living on it to his care, with the obligation of bringing them the Catholic religion and some limited education. As we have seen, the settler did not hesitate to use the labor and permit the priests to convert. But the amount of "care" he gave his charges was limited, and education for the Indian was almost nonexistent. Power, wealth and social status lay in holding the land and controlling the Indians (and later the Black slaves) who extracted the riches from the land.

Fig. 9-4: Colonial labor

The paternalistic, authoritarian and centralized nature of Colonial American administration was also closely linked to a caste and racial social system. At the top of the pyramid were the Spaniards or Portuguese who had been born in Iberia, and who were either the initial settlers, or the administrators sent out from Madrid or Lisbon for relatively short tours of duty in the Americas. The loyalty of the former was always somewhat questionable, but the latter were clearly the king's people. Below this top level were the "criollos", the Spanish and Portuguese born in America. They were ethnically identical to the first group, but their roots were in America, and many of them would live their lives out in the New World without ever visiting Iberia. Toward the end of the Colonial period it was this group who sparked the rebellions that led to independence. Moving down the socio-economic ladder we find the mestizos (mix of Iberian and Indigenous), the Indigenous, and the Blacks, as well as various combinations of the last three categories.

Initially there were two Spanish viceroyalties, both based in the regions which had once held the core of the Aztec and Inca empires: New Spain (Mexico) and Peru. Brazil was also eventually a viceroyalty under the Portuguese crown. Toward the end of the Colonial period two additional vice-royalties were created: New Granada (roughly today's Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama), and Rio de La Plata (today's Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia). See Map, figure 9-5.

Fig. 9-5: Colonial boundaries

II. The Colonial Baroque

The State and Church in Colonial Latin America skillfully used the cultural movement known as the Baroque to strengthen their power and reach. The Baroque was characterized by great extravagance of detail and complex intertwined and opposing ideas. Its principal manifestation in Latin America was in architecture, especially church architecture, which emphasized the use of gold, highly curved surfaces, and an incredible amount of lush detail. It is said that the Baroque hated straight and simple lines, be they in literature or in buildings, and that any such straight lines had to be transformed into convoluted spirals and be covered obsessively with complex arguments and details. Unfortunately, this sometimes led to excesses, pedantry, affectation, and artificiality.

A. Late Renaissance and Plateresque

The Baroque was not typical of the early Colonial period, however, since Iberia was still under the influence of the Renaissance. The architecture of this early period, especially in the first churches and other religious buildings, is characterized by the early settlers' memories of what they had left in Spain: a mixture of remnants of the medieval Gothic, some elements reflecting Moorish influences such as the use of tiles, wood and geometric figures, and mainly the Renaissance. One specific current of the Renaissance in America was the so-called "plateresque" style, named after the way the delicate working of the stone resembled a silver filigree ("platero" is the Spanish word for "silver-smith").

In designing the early buildings, the first priests and conquistadores also had to take some functional elements into consideration. The threat of a possible attack by rebellious Indians (or raiding pirates from Northern Europe) meant that churches were sometimes built as small fortresses, solid and protective. Much of the military architecture of the Colonial era dates from this early period. In earthquake zones such as Mexico, Central America, and the Andean region (and this covered most of the important areas of Spain's Empire), the Church's architects had to build strong and solid structures with this in mind.

B. The Baroque

Leaving aside this early period, it is clear that the dominant cultural current in the Colonial period was the Baroque. It began with a mindset that stressed two almost contradictory ideas: on the one hand order and hierarchy (the Church-State linkage), and on the other the exuberance of detail and ornamentation that was exaggerated and sometimes extreme. Tying these two currents together was a sense of cleverness, conceit, indirect allusion and allegory. This was in marked contrast to the cultural current of the conquest period, which was direct, simple, and single-minded.

From the perspective of the Church and the State, the main value of the Baroque was to impress on the population the overwhelming strength and wealth of both institutions. Because the two were closely linked through the theory of the divine right of kings, whatever strengthened one also helped the other. Thus, the awesome and luxurious decorations in the massive churches delivered the powerful message that religion provided the meaning for one's life here on earth, and that the Church supported (and was supported by) God's representatives, namely the authorities of the Church and the Crown. The only path to eternal salvation lay through the Church, and this institutional connection implied obedience to the civil authorities.

It should not be surprising then, that the art that dominated the colonial period was related to the Church and its mission. It began with the architecture of the churches and included the key element of their interior decoration, the heavy use of gold and silver, and the elaborate and extremely realistic representations of Christ and the saints in both carvings and paintings. We know the names and history of the more famous of the Colonial religious statue carvers, such as Aleijandinho in Brazil and Caspicara in Ecuador.

There were an estimated 100,000 churches, cathedrals, chapels and convents built in the colonial period in Spanish America, and the vast majority show the influence of the Baroque in both their basic design, the columns, their altars, and their decoration. Each one of these churches required a full complement of paintings, statues, altars and "retablos" (the often highly complicated decorative elements behind the altar).

C. Popular versus European currents

Church architecture and art was "official" in that it represented the strictly European viewpoint of the Roman Catholic Church and the Iberian state. The models that were copied and the painters and sculptures that were imitated were those of Spain and Portugal.

But inevitably modifications crept in, despite fairly strict Church control of the artisans and artists involved. We can speak of this process as "cultural mestizaje", since it involves a mixing of the European and the Indigenous. Because the majority of the craftsmen were mestizos or Indians, the possibility of deviation from the Iberian models was always real. In some cases, however, understanding priests allowed, and even encouraged, local modifications as a way of making the mestizo and Indigenous feel that the Church was their own. At other times, in a sort of cultural subversion, the local artisan would attempt to sneak in symbols or elements which were American, or even Pre-Columbian. Thus, certain Mexican Colonial churches have versions of the Virgin Mary that have distinctly Indigenous features, and Christ is sometimes represented with symbols that are pre-Columbian. Local fruits, animals and other products often appear among the decorative elements of the Baroque.

As we noted earlier, the Spanish conquistadores frequently built their churches and public buildings using materials from destroyed pre-Columbian buildings, and often in exactly the same sites. Sometimes the destruction of the old was incomplete, and in places like Cuzco one can see Catholic churches built on the visible foundations of Inca temples. Despite the official emphasis on churches and public buildings as the primary place for art to be located, the authorities could not totally suppress popular culture. Much of this popular culture had a strong Indigenous element, especially in the regions where an important pre-Columbian civilization had existed.

Fig. 9-7: Popular culture - mask

Sometimes this popular culture involved materials, such as the use of feathers (an Aztec tradition), even in Church decorations. At other times it involved pre-Columbian handicrafts, such as the use of masks, which were then used in Catholic processions and plays as well as in official celebrations. Sometimes these were even used to mock the colonial authorities and the conquistadores themselves.

III. Two Colonial writers

A. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: A Colonial Feminist Poet-Nun

Sor (Sister) Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) was an extraordinary woman, distinguished by her intellectual brilliance as much as by her literary talent. In the male-oriented colonial society of Mexico there were few avenues open to express herself, and she chose to become a nun. This, however, did not stop her from writing emotional and even erotic poetry in which religious ecstasy becomes confused with romantic love.

Fig. 9-8: Sor Juana

Her reputation as "America's first feminist" rests on a series of poems and essays in which she defends her sisters and warns them of the double standards employed by men to get what they want from women. The poem cited below is one of the most famous of these. Despite her fame, we know little about the details of her life. We do not know why, for example, she abandoned her poetry and her intellectual pursuits towards the end of her life to tend to the sick (she died while nursing the poor during a plague in Mexico). The portrait we have of her was painted a century after her death with the painter's daughter for a model, and yet it seems to capture the essence and mystery of this remarkable person.

"REDONDILLA" by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Stupid men, quick to condemn

Women wrongly for their flaws

Never seeing you're the cause

Of all that you blame in them!

If you flatter them along,

Earn their scorn, their love incite

Why expect them to do right

When you urge them to do wrong?

You combat their opposition

And then gravely when you're done

Say the whole thing was in fun

And you did not seek submission.

You expect from action shady

That some magic will be done

to turn courted courtesan

Quickly into virtuous lady.

Can you think of wit more drear

Than for one with lack of brain

To smear a mirror, then complain

Since it is not crystal clear?

Yet with favor and disdain

You the same results have had,

Angered if we treat you bad,

Mocking if we've loved in vain.

She who's modest cannot hold

Man's esteem. We're all thought naughty.

If we don't accept, we're haughty;

If we welcome you, we're bold. ...

Do not look surprised or rave

When guilt's placed at your own gate!

Love the girls your whims create

Or create the sort you crave.

Tempt us not to acquiesce,

Then with justice can you censure

Any girl who dares to venture

Near you, seeking your caress.

Fig. 9-10: Colonial Church power

Women need be strong, I find,

To stay safe and keep unharmed

Since the arrogant male comes armed

With Devil, flesh, and world combined.

(In the following poem Sor Juana reveals her inner struggle between the part of her that was obedient nun and the part that was feminist and critic, between heart and mind, between emotion and reason, and between science and religion.)

My soul, confused, is divided in two parts,

One is passion's slave, one is

reason's faithful servant.

Civil war burns

within my bosom. Each of the parts

struggles to win, and in the midst

of such troubled storms, both

parts will perish, and neither

one will prevail.

"Reply to Sor Filotea" by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

(In this lengthy essay Sor Juana tells of her love of learning and her extraordinary efforts to get an education in the face of the Colonial belief that women did not need to be educated).

... Writing has never been for me a matter of my own will, but rather the result of outside forces; I can truly say that: Vos me coegistis. ("You chose me") What is really true, and I will not deny it (in part because it is obvious, and also because God has been gracious to give me a very great love of truth) is that ever since the first light of reason struck me, I had such a strong and vehement inclination to letters, that not even outside reprimands -of which I have had many- nor my own reflections -and I have made not a few- have been enough to cause me to abandon that natural impulse to write which God has put in me: Your Grace will know why and for what; and will know that I have asked to have the light of my understanding extinguished to the point that all I would have left is what I need to follow His Law, because anything beyond that is, according to some, surplus for a woman; and there even are those who say it is harmful.

Your Grace will also know that this not having been granted, I have attempted to hide my understanding by changing my name, and make sacrifices only to Him who gave it to me; and that no other motive caused me to enter religious orders, despite the fact that the liberty and silence which my studious intentions required were alien to the exercises and company of a religious community. And later, in the community, the Lord knows (as well as the only other person in the world who should know), what I tried to do in order to hide my name, and which was denied me, saying that it was temptation, and so it was.

If I could repay you some small measure of what I owe you, my Lady, I believe I would repay you by telling you this, because it has never come out of my mouth, except to Him who should hear it. But I wish that by opening, one by one, the doors to my heart, making clear its most sacred secrets, you will know that it does not diminish what I owe your venerable person and your many favors.

Continuing the narration of my inclination, of which I want to give you full information, I should tell you that when I was not yet three years old my mother sent my older sister to learn to read in one of those schools called "Amigas", and my sister brought me along out of affection and mischief. And seeing her receive a lesson, the burning desire to learn how to read was so kindled in me that I tricked (or so it seemed to me) the teacher, telling her that my mother ordered that I too be given lessons. She did not believe me, because it was not believable, but to comply with my request, she gave me the lesson.

Fig. 9-11: Colonial education

I continued to go to the teacher, and she continued to teach me, but no longer as a joke, because experience had removed that option. And I learned how to read in such a short time that I had to hide it from my mother. The teacher also hid it from my mother because she wanted to surprise her when I was advanced in my studies and could receive the credit for it, along with me. And I kept my knowledge hidden, believing that they would punish me for it since I had done it without permission. My teacher (God bless her) still lives, and can testify to this.

I remember in those days, wanting snacks in a way that is normal at that age, I abstained from eating cheese because I had heard that it would make an idiot out of you, and my desire to learn was stronger than my desire to eat, even though this is very strong among children.

Later, when I was about six or seven years old, and already knowing how to read and write, and with all the other abilities and skills and sewing which women learn, I heard it said that there was a University and Schools in Mexico in which one could study sciences. And as soon as I heard that, I began to pester my mother with constant and insistent pleas that, by dressing up as a boy, I should be sent to Mexico to live with some relatives we had there, in order to study and take courses at the University. She did not want to do it, and it was a good thing, because I satisfied my desire for learning by reading many and varied books which my grandfather had, despite punishment and reprimands and obstacles. And so when I finally came to Mexico, many people admired not so much my knowledge and recollection of information as much as the fact that I knew so much at an age when I barely had time enough to learn how to speak.

I began to study Latin, and I believe I took only about twenty lessons. But I devoted myself so much to my lessons that I made an agreement with myself that I would cut my hair short if I did not learn as much as I should. This was important because it is true that women, and especially those in the flower of their youth, place great emphasis on the natural adornment of their hair, and I would cut off four to six finger's lengths of hair, and made a deal with myself that if by the time it grew back I had not learned as much as I had planned, I would cut it back even further as punishment for being so stupid. And what happened was that my hair grew rapidly, but my learning did not grow as fast, so I kept cutting it back as punishment because it did not seem right to me to have a head that was well dressed with hair and so naked of knowledge, which was a far more important adornment.

I went into the convent even though I knew that convent life had some things (I refer to secondary things and not the basic formal ones) which were very repugnant to my personality. But in all, and especially considering my total negation of matrimony, the convent was the most suitable and most decent thing I could choose, in matters of the security that my salvation desired. And so in this regard (because it was the most important goal) I surrendered and bowed my neck, and gave up all the little impertinences of my nature, among those the desire to live alone, and not to have any obligatory occupation which might inhibit my freedom to study, nor any noise from the community which might interrupt the deep silence of my books.

Fig. 9-12: Colonial convent

This caused me to vacillate somewhat in my determination, until some learned persons enlightened me, and I overcame my hesitation with divine grace, and I took the state of sisterhood which I now so unworthily hold. I thought that I was fleeing from myself. But, woe is me! I brought myself with me and I brought my own worst enemy with me, and I don't know how to determine if it was a gift or punishment from Heaven, because as the exercises of religion tried to snuff out or block my studious inclination, it exploded like gunpowder, and in me was confirmed the saying: "privation is the cause of appetite."

I returned (better said, I never left), and I persisted in my studious tasks (which for me were a rest and break in every moment left after my obligations). I read and read some more, I studied and studied some more, with no teacher other than my books themselves. And I realize how difficult it is to study those soulless letters, lacking the live voice and explanation of the teacher; but in all this work I suffered with pleasure, because of my love for letters. Oh, if it had been for the love of God, which was the one sure thing, how much I would have deserved it!

It was a good thing that I attempted to raise my learning up and direct it to His service, because the goal which I was seeking was to study Theology. It seemed to me a stupid inability, being Catholic, not to know everything one could in this life, through natural means, about the divine mysteries. And being a nun and not a secular person, I should therefore due to my ecclesiastical state, profess letters, and being a daughter of Saint Jerome, and Saint Paula, it would not be right for such learned parents to have an idiot for a daughter. This is what I proposed to myself, and it made sense; if it was not (and this was most likely) to satisfy and applaud my own inclination, then to propose it as an obligation in and of itself.

"First Dream" (excerpt) by Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz

(This very dense and impenetrable poem is typical of the mystical and religious nature of much Baroque writing).

Pyramid-like, mournful, from the earth

born as shadow, heading to the sky

the high peak of vain obelisk

attempting to reach the stars;

and their beautiful lights

-always exempt, always brilliant-

but the gloomy war

with black vapors threatened

the fearful fugitive shadow

and mocked the distant lights.

B. Bernardo de Balbuena (1562-1627)

Born in Spain, Balbuena came to the New World at any early age, studied theology, and rose within the Church to become one of the early Bishops of Puerto Rico. Despite his priestly duties, he found time to write long and elegant verses which are excellent examples of the Baroque tendency to heavily load (and sometimes overload) poetry with highly detailed descriptions.

Fig. 9-13: Balbuena

Perhaps his best work is "La Grandeza Mexicana" ("Mexico's Grandeur"), in which he replies in elegant and lyrical verse to a nun who asked him for a description of the young Spanish city of Mexico. Balbuena takes advantage of this opportunity to present a detailed inventory of the complicated, luxurious and beautiful city as he knew it almost 100 years after the arrival of Cortés. The details he provides include physical geography, the climate, the surroundings, the architecture, the vegetation, the different human types, the animals, all in great detail. The poem is high-sounding, but at the same time simple; it is direct, but also contains complicated metaphors, word plays, majestic adjectives, and a rich catalog of the lexicon. Balbuena's works represent some of the best of the Baroque's love of color, detail, ornamentation and intellectual playfulness. It also stands as a monument to the pride in the New World that many transplanted Spaniards shared with the "criollos" (the Americans descended from Spanish or Portuguese families).

"Mexico's Grandeur" (1604) by Bernardo de Balbuena

Of the famous Mexico the seat,

origin and grandeur of edifices

horses, streets, treatment, complement,

letters, virtues, variety of professions.

gifts, occasions of contentment,

immortal spring and its indications,

illustrious government, religion, state,

all in this speech is written. ...

It is ordered that I write you some indication

that I have arrived in this famous city,

center of perfection, hinge of the world;

its seat, its populous greatness,

its rare things, its riches and its treatment,

its illustrious people, its pompous labor.

in all, a most perfect portrait

you ask of Mexican Greatness,

be it expensive, be it modest.

Be aware, it is a grave and heavy task

which you impose on such weak ability

but I desire and wish to serve you.

And so, in response to your pleasure

and mine to comply with your law,

here are of Mexico the signs:

Bathed in a temperate and cool breeze

where no one believed there was a thing

it enjoys its lush and gifted seat.

Almost under the fertile tropics,

which bestow the flowers of Amaltea

and impregnates the deep sea with pearls,

within the zone where the sun passes,

and the tender April goes, wrapped in roses,

sowing perfumes made of livery;

on a delicate and soft crust, Fig. 9-14: Colonial city

which lies atop two clear lagoons,

fenced in by waves from all sides,

forged in great proportion and worth

of towers, spires, and vantage-points,

its superb machine is presented.

With most beautiful distant views,

outings, recreations and country-feasts,

orchards, farms, mills, and groves.

malls, gardens, thickets

of various plants and fruits

in flower, in blossom, immature and ripe.

There are not as many stars

in the sky, as flowers in her garland

nor as many virtues in it than her.

From its high vestments of emeralds,

which in rich August and abundant grains

good and evil are spread from her folds,

plains of equal interest are born,

whose labor and fertile crops

provide for one for many months.

This great city built on water has

strong causeways, on which its many people

as capable as they are, come close together;

and not even the Greek horse made a bridge

so full of arms as the Trojan wall,

nor did prudent UIlysses guide so many;

not even when Arctus' frigid wind blows

and denudes the trees, and with stripped

leaves covers the hard soil,

as in these roads and causeways

in every time and every occasion.

one can see the mass of people crossing.

Draught animals, coaches, carts, wagons,

of gold, silver, riches, provisions

laden go out, and enter in multitudes.

Of various paths and various movements

various figures, faces and visages,

of various men, of various thoughts;

muleteers, officials, contractors,

Spaniards, soldiers, merchants,

Courtiers, gentlemen, litigants;

clergy, friars, men and women,

of various colors and professions,

of various states and various appearances;

different in tongues and nations,

in purposes, goals and desires,

and even sometimes in laws and opinions;

and all by short-cuts or roundabouts

in this great city they disappear

from giants they become pygmies.

Oh, immense sea, where grow

so many waves and avenues of things,

which disappear and are not similar!

This is the sun that gives life to the world;

that conserves, governs and grows it,

protects, defends and fortifies it. ...

hyacinths and daffodils, which as hostages

of your coming to the orchards were given

as hope and promise of flowery goods;

joyful flowers, which in another time

were monarchs of the world, nymphs and shepherds

and in bloom they stayed; in bloom they left;

birds of most beautiful hues

of various songs and various plumages,

skylarks, popinjays, nightingales. ...

Thus this hidden force, live source

of political life, and breath

that can revive the most still and frigid chest.

among others of its goods gives the seat

to this distinguished city on hills of water,

and in her edifice opened the first foundation.

And so whatever the human genius forges

and art reaches, and desire practices

in it and its lake is poured

and is returned agreeable, illustrious and rich.