Dialogues

Each of the four articles in this Dialogues draws on recent conservation and/or material analysis of a single work created in colonial Latin America, specifically New Spain, to explore the self-image of the artist as manifest through practice—that is, the techniques of manipulating a range of materials to achieve a desired aesthetic effect. The four foci are a featherwork miter and infulae, the Codex Mendoza, the Adoration of the Magi by Cristóbal de Villalpando, and a casta painting by Miguel Cabrera. The introductory essay argues that examining artistic practice is one avenue to ascertaining artists’ own choices about self-presentation. RESUMEN Cada uno de los cuatro ensayos se basa en la conservación reciente o el análisis material de una única obra creada en la América Latina colonial, específicamente en la Nueva España, para explorar la autoimagen del artista tal como esta se manifiesta a través de la práctica, es decir, el conjunto de técnicas desarrolladas por artistas para poder manipular diversos materiales a fin de lograr el efecto deseado. Los cuatro focos son una mitra e ínfulas de plumas, el Códice Mendoza, la Adoración de los Reyes Magos de Cristóbal de Villalpando y una pintura de casta de Miguel Cabrera. El ensayo introductorio sostiene que asignar un papel principal a la práctica de los artistas permite entender las propias decisiones de los artistas sobre la auto-presentación. RESUMO Cada um destes ensaios baseia-se em análises de conservação ou material recentes de um único trabalho criado na América Latina colonial, especificamente na Nova Espanha, para explorar a auto-imagem do artista como manifesta através da prática, isto é, o conjunto de técnicas que artistas desenvolveram para manipular os efeitos desejados de uma variedade de materiais. Os quatro focos são uma mítra e ínfulas em arte plumária, o Codex Mendoza, a Adoração dos Magos por Cristóbal de Villalpando e uma pintura de casta por Miguel Cabrera. O ensaio introdutório argumenta que atribuir um papel primário à prática dos artistas é chegar às próprias escolhas dos artistas sobre a auto-apresentação.

Painting the Aztec Past in Early Colonial Mexico: Translation and Knowledge Production in the Codex Mendoza

The “Codex Mendoza” is one of the earliest, most detailed, and most important postconquest accounts of pre-Hispanic Aztec life. Nahuas and Spaniards manufactured the codex through a complex process that involved translations across media, languages, and cultural framings. Translations made Aztec culture legible and acceptable to nonnative viewers and readers by recasting indigenous practices, knowledge, ontology, and epistemology. Following a stratigraphic approach that examines the process through which natives and Spaniards created a transcultural manuscript, the article examines the multiple interpretations and negotiations involved in producing images, books, and information about the indigenous world in early colonial Mexico.

Imperial and Philological Encounters in the Early Modern Era

Although the history of philology is merely an addition to the rediscovery of textual traditions which have been neglected for too long by academic philology, it is nonetheless an important one for its ability alone to provide an explanation of the existing asymmetric situation. When the world opened up after the 16th century following transoceanic navigations, European encounters with written traditions in America, Africa and Asia led to a variety of attitudes—from denial to fascination, from destruction to collection. These “philological encounters”, both material and conceptual, largely contributed to shape the views of the European Renaissance and the Enlightenment regarding language and writing. To understand the semiological and epistemological consequences of these views, this paper focuses on a single text produced at the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the Codex Mendoza, and on the different interpretations to which the latter was subjected in Europe after crossing the Atlantic. The history of the Codex Mendoza would have us believe that it was during the 18th century, and not before, that writing became exclusively synonymous with alphabet, resulting in the marginalisation of non-alphabetic written systems—and this mainly for historiographical reasons.