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The Art of Allegiance
Visual Culture and Imperial Power in Baroque New Spain
208 pages | 24 color/39 b&w illustrations | 9 x 10 | 2007
ISBN 978-0-271-02983-2 | cloth: $75.00 sh
Paperback edition is not available in the U.S.
“The book is nicely illustrated; several of the visuals—some well known, others, lesser known—are delightfully incorporated into the study.” —Colonial Latin American Historical Review
The Art of Allegiance explores the ways in which Spanish Imperial authority was manifested in a compelling system of representationfor the subjects of New Spain during the seventeenth century. Michael Schreffler identifies and analyzes a corpus of “source” material—paintings, maps, buildings, and texts—produced in and around Mexico City that addresses themes of kingly presence and authority as well as obedience, loyalty, and allegiance to the crown.
The Art of Allegiance opens with a discussion of the royal palace in Mexico City, now destroyed but known through a numberof images, then moves on to consider its interior decoration, particularly the Hall of Royal Accord, and the numerous portraits of royalty and government officials displayed in the palace. Subsequent chapters examine images in which the conquest of Mexico is depicted, maps showing New Spain’s relationship to Spain and the larger world, and the restructuring of space in and through imperial rule. Although the book focuses on material from the reign of Charles II (1665–1700), it sheds light on the wider development of cultural politics in the Spanish colonial world.
Michael Schreffler is Associate Professor of Art History at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is co-editor of Fritz Scholder: Thirty Years of Sculpture (1994).
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Royal Palace and the Loyal City
2 The Architecture of Succession
3 The King’s Two Bodies Reconsidered
4 Allegiance, History, and Commodity
5 Shaping the Universal Monarchy
Conclusion: Empire and Enclosure
Appendix: Description of the Royal Palace in Mexico City from Isidro de Sariñana y Cuenca’s Llanto del Occidente, 1666.
Notes
Bibliography
Index