Exploring Colonial Mexico©
Exploring Colonial Mexico©
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The grand priory of Tiripetio in western Michoacán was the principal Augustinian house for the region, noted for its colonial school and seminary. The church is currently undergoing restoration, while the long seminary wing has been restored as a cultural center and gallery affiliated to the University of San Nicolás in Morelia.
Among the colonial treasures on display at Tiripetio is an outstanding group of art works donated by a collector from Peru. These attractive paintings, however, are not Mexican but are superb examples of the Andean baroque style from the celebrated Cuzco school, and probably date from the early 1700s.
This school of vernacular art is noted for its colorful portraits of the Virgin, but is perhaps better known for its distinctive depictions of Archangels. Although portraits of individual angels are common, it is less usual to encounter depictions of all seven archangels, commonly called The Seven Princes in colonial times and intimately connected to the popular cult of Our Lady of the Angels.
Generally painted by native artists, and thus rarely signed, these immediately recognizable pictures portray the archangels attired in a stylish, even foppish, Spanish manner influenced by Flemish fashions of the period. Their elaborate attire is replete with brocaded robes, tooled buskins, lace trim and high, plumed hats. Most of these figures strike static, frontal poses and many carry muskets or other weapons.
The spectacular, richly hued painting of the Seven Princes above is such an example. The seven include the familiar archangels Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, and the four so called apocryphal archangels: Uriel, Seal chiel, Jehudiel and Barachiel. They stand in a row elegantly robed in in sumptuously embroidered, swirling garments. Michael and Uriel are armed. Each is identified by an inscribed, gilded halo, although naming the apocryphal angels was officially forbidden by the church in Rome. St Michael stands in the center holding the red banner of victory while the snow capped peaks of the Andes, bathed in a sunset glow, rise in the background.
Two other portraits in the Tiripetio collection are more individual. On the left, below, a classic St Raphael, clad in a broad brimmed, feathered hat and brocaded cloak with a fish at his feet, holds a poleaxe or halberd. The sweet faced St Michael on the right, the most frequently portrayed of the archangels, assumes a more dynamic pose with native shield and flaming sword as Satan clutches at his leg.
