Читать книгу Art in Theory - Группа авторов - Страница 42

‘Motolinía’ was the Nahuatl name given to the Franciscan friar Toribio de Benavente. He was involved in the training of native artists in European styles in both painting and metalwork. In the present extract, however, he reports on the destruction of indigenous religious art, mentioning both the appearance of some of the ‘idols’ and some of the religious practices surrounding them. The extract is taken from Motolinía’s History of the Indians of New Spain (1536) as reprinted in Kelly Donahue‐Wallace, Art and Architecture of Viceregal Latin America, 1521–1821, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2008, p. 36.

It was then that the natives soon came and told the friars how the Indians were hiding the idols, how they were placing them at the foot of the crosses or beneath the stones of the altar‐steps, pretending they were venerating the cross, whereas they were actually adoring the demon. In this way they sought to keep their idolatry alive. The idols, of which the Indians had very many, were set up in many places, in the temples of the demons, in the patios, and in conspicuous places, as in groves and on prominent hills and especially on the mountain passes and summits … Those who passed by drew blood from their ears or tongue or offered a little of the incense, called copalli, which is found in this land; others offered roses which they gathered on the road … They had idols of stone, of wood and of terra cotta. They made them also of dough and of seed mixed with dough … some of them looked like bishops with miter and crosier; of these some were gilded and others made of various kinds of turquoise stone. Other idols resembled men; but these had on their head a mortar instead of a miter, and into this they poured wine because it was the god of wine … Others looked like women and were likewise in different forms. Others looked like wild beasts such as lions, tigers, dogs, stags, and whatever animals were found on the mountains and in the field.

Having finished destroying the public idols, the missionaries went after those that were hidden at the foot of the crosses, being in prison, as it were, because the devil could not be near the cross without suffering great torment. All of these were destroyed. […]