Object and Apparition: Envisioning the Christian Divine in the Colonial Andes by Maya Stanfield-Mazz (review)

Maya Stanfield-Mazzi examines how “a new religion was forged through images in the early modern Andes” (p. 1). The author divides her book into two parts. Part I focusses on three-dimensional statues in churches, which helped Andeans envision the Christian divine, and Part II on two-dimensional paintings, mostly in private homes for personal devotion. Stanfield-Mazzi uses simple yet elegant prose in the book’s seven chapters, introduction, and epilogue. Analyses of fifty black and white illustrations and nine coloured plates add to the attractiveness of this well-conceived work. Ample information on pre-Hispanic religious beliefs and customs allows the reader to understand the incorporation, acceptance, and modification of Christian symbols, representations, and doctrine. The author contends that if “indigenous Andeans were still discouraged from acceding to the priesthood [in the late seventeenth-century], as artists they were able to participate in the visualization of Christianity” (p. 146). The author weaves political, religious, and cultural history into the Andean religious fabric and presents fair and balanced depictions of priests who protected their flock and those who exploited them.

Missionaries adopted several strategies to inculcate Catholicism. The language barrier hindered the teaching of complex religious principles and no official translation of the catechism appeared in Quechua or Aymara until 1582–83. Political struggles between Dominicans and diocesan priests and between Dominicans and Franciscans further complicated evangelization efforts, though nearly all parties agreed on the importance of destroying pre-Hispanic religious objects, “tricks of the devil” (p. 10). Missionaries knew that active visualization of the new faith was crucial to its success and they adopted several strategies “to inspire devotion to God” (p. 12). Successful efforts to instruct neophytes began around 1550 when large bultos from Spain arrived in Andean cities to populate new Christian churches with “naturalistic, polychrome images of Christian deities” (p. 59).

Visual representations of Catholicism by the hands of Andean artists sparked the creation of a new and independent artistic tradition. Pre-Hispanic Andean traditions contributed to the ultimate preeminence of Mary and Christ in artwork and daily devotion. God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the saints received much less attention by Andean faithful and artists. Christ Crucified, prominently displayed in Cusco’s Cathedral, became known as Lord of the Earthquakes after being credited with stopping the tremors on the heels of the devastating earthquake of 1650. A Virgin of the Rosary and a Virgin of the Purification became foci of devotion in Pomata and Copacabana. The Virgin’s statue in Pomata was imported from Spain. The Virgin Mary in Copacabana was created by the famed Andean artist Francisco Tito Yupanqui. Both statues were accredited with performing miracles. While Amerindian artists clearly influenced this new artistic tradition, it was not because Spaniards had respect for Amerindians. General disdain may be seen in the story of Tito Yupanqui, who requested permission from the bishop to create a confraternity in Mary’s name and to paint and sculpt the Virgin based on a panel he displayed for his excellency. “The bishop rejected him,” notes the author, “laughing and remarking that he was only fit to paint monkeys” (p. 75). Ultimately, Tito Yupanqui received permission to undertake this project only when he convinced a well-regarded Spaniard to assist with the sculpture. This project allowed indigenous and mestizo artists in Cusco to help formulate “an Andean vision of Catholicism” (p. 86).

Historians, such as this reviewer, have used the word “syncretism” to describe the blending or fusing of indigenous and European elements that shaped the Catholicism that developed in Spanish America. But that term has clearly fallen out of fashion. Some scholars, such as David Tavárez and John F. Chuchiak, avoid its use since “it presupposes that hybrid practices can be dissected into a series of discrete and distinct elements” (in Penyak and Petry, Religion and Society in Latin America, Maryknoll, 2009, p...