Joseph Armstrong Baird, jr. The Churches of Mexico. 1530–1810. — Berkley and Los Angeles, 1962

  

 

 

 

 

 

The serious literature, in English, on viceregal or colonial Mexican religious architecture and art is not large. Since Sylvester Baxter’s pioneer study of 1901 (Spanish-Colonial Architecture in Mexico), there have been only a few works which have attempted and achieved accuracy of fact, integrity of scholarship, and sensitivity to the special character of the viceroyalty of New Spain. George Kubler’s monumental study of tbe sixteenth century (Mexican Architecture in the Sixteenth Century); Elizabeth Wilder Weismann’s perceptive survey of sculpture (Mexico in Sculpture: 1521–1821), which is often closely connected with architecture; the sections on Mexico in Pal Kelemen’s wide-ranging study of Latin American seventeenth- and eighteenth-century developments (Baroque and Rococo in Latin America); and most recently George Kubler’s and the late Martin Soria’s notable contributions on the architecture and art of Spain and its colonies in the Pelican History of Art (The Art and Architecture of Spain and Portugal and Their American Dominions: 1500–1800)—these are the principal additions to knowledge of the subject in the English language. There have been a number of travel and historical books which have touched upon Mexican architecture and art, some vividly illuminating and others frankly journalistic. A few authors—architects rather than architectural historians—have provided readable though incomplete and partially inaccurate and dated studies of Mexican architecture (Sanford’s The Story of Architecture in Mexico). Most works in these latter categories have revealed little general acquaintance with art history; the result has been an inconsistent analysis of style, sources, and periods.

 

In other than the English language, there have been particularly valuable contributions in Spanish, as one would expect. To be especially noted are works by Angulo Iñiguez, Marco Dorta, and others in Spain. Angulo’s contributions to Volumes I and II of Historia del arte hispano-americano contain one of the most thorough art historical surveys of the viceregal period in Mexico. In Mexico, the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas at the National University in Mexico City has been the principal fountainhead of scholarly studies—early under the Institute’s first director, Manuel Toussaint, and now under his successor, Justino Fernández. Toussaint’s Arte colonial was but the summation of a distinguished career of writing on all aspects of viceregal art; Fernández’ contributions to the two published catalogues of the provinces of Mexico, his study of later viceregal aesthetics and criticism in Retablo de los Reyes, the recent general survey in Arte mexicano, and numerous other works have added fresh interpretations and new material on the period. Of the investigators at the Instituto, Francisco de la Maza has especially devoted his attention to architecture from 1530 to 1810; other members of the staff, such as the late Flores Guerrero, and González Galván, Moyssén, Romero de Terreros, Vargas Lugo de Bosch, and Villegas, have continued to publish actively on various aspects of the era. Serious, scholarly studies by Europeans others than Spaniards have been rare. Gillet’s section on Mexico in Michel’s Histoire de l'Art, a few articles in German, and various picture books published recently (Kusch’s Mexiko im Bild) have been general rather than specific.

 

The present work is not intended to be definitive nor all-inclusive. Examination of particular churches of Mexico from 1530 to 1810 will give the reader an insight into the major foci of architecture, sculpture, and the other arts in that period. Their principles can be applied to other monuments not specifically discussed in the text or Catalogue of Plates. The text has been written as a study of a complex subject which does not bypass any of the obvious problems of that subject but attempts to make those problems intelligible in terms of contemporary art historical scholarship. The Catalogue of Plates examines individual works more specifically. A Glossary offers definitions of historical and technical terms which may be new to the reader or need redefinition. Three Chronologies attempt to reduce historical sequences to schematic order, and Biographical Sketches of the leading architects expand the information given in the text. Drawings and maps also visually amplify objects and buildings in this study. A selective Bibliography provides critical reference to other studies.

 

Hugo Rudinger’s photographs were taken with a 35-mm. Leica camera and were enlarged and printed by Mr. Rudinger. The exigencies of time and space made it impossible to include all photographs ideally indicated for such a book; preference was given to less commonly published buildings and to their most interesting features. Of the group selected, as wide a range as possible of period, building type, and special parts has been intended. The text and Catalogue of Plates can have full meaning only in terms of the values expressed in these selected photographs.

 

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I The Spanish Background 14

II The Churches of Mexico: Building Types 21

III The Churches of Mexico: Styles and Fashions of Adornment 31

 

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