Two 17th century Mexican feather paintings

Anonymous 17th century Mexican work
Saint Francis in prayer or The Stigma of Saint Francis
Feathers and gold leaves on a copper support.

Height 25, width 19.5 cm

Provenance: Uruguayan collection. Free movement of the territory.

This work was examined by the specialist Ernst Bauernfeind of the Vienna Museum of Natural History, who carried out comprehensive zoological studies on the feathers used.

Anonymous 17th century Mexican work
Saint Gertrude

Feathers and gold leaves on a copper support.

Height 14.5, width 10.5 cm

Provenance: Uruguayan collection. Free movement of the territory.

The only plumage representation of the patron saint of Mexico's oldest women's convent, this painting was probably painted at the beginning of the 17th century in the surroundings of the Moctezuma family, protector of the Conception monastery.

 

Two 17th century Mexican feather paintings

Saint Francis and the incredulous Pope
Saint Gertrude, patron saint of the nuns of the Conception

Presentation by Brice Langlois and Aymeric Rouillac

A rare discovery

The presentation of two feather mosaics, representing respectively Saint Francis and Saint Gertrude, in the same auction is a rare event. The examples of comparable works are exceptional. In 1988, Pascal Mongne, doctor of archaeology and specialist in the arts of the Americas, concluded that the Mass of Saint Gregory (fig. 1) kept at the Musée des Jacobins is "probably unique in France (1)". In 2013, he referred to four paintings comparable to the one already mentioned: the Triptych of the Crucifixion (fig. 2) of the National Renaissance Museum in Écouen, the Triptych of the Virgin and Child (fig. 3) presented at the castle-museum of Saumur and Notre Dame et Saint Luc (fig. 4) kept at the Quai Branly museum (2). In addition to these, there is the Holy Trinity that we presented in Cheverny in 2013 (fig. 5) and a smaller mosaic of feathers sold by us in 2015 (fig. 6), both acquired by the Musée des Jacobins. The sale of a masterpiece of the art of plumage representing The Life of Saint John the Baptist was also announced in Paris this year (fig. 7). Today, between 1603 and 1804 works of feathers are referenced throughout the world, a majority of them paintings. Their number is due to the difficulty of preserving the feathers: of organic origin, these works are fragile and easily degraded.

Plumasserie: a mixed and sacred art

Produced in Mexico, the feather mosaics illustrate the exchanges between Europe and pre-Columbian America. They are a vital tool for the colonization of New Spain, combining Aztec artistic traditions with Western Catholic iconography.

The Franciscan brothers were the first to bring the two cultures into dialogue when they arrived in Mexico in 1523. The Friars Minor "adapt the Christian message to their audience" and "make Catholic rites accessible to the indigenous mentality5". Quickly adapting to local customs, they preached the good word in the vernacular and taught religion6 through engravings from Europe. They themselves will serve as inspiration for the creation of devotional images in marquetry of feathers. The monk Pierre de Gand is at the origin of the San José de Los Naturales school, where most of the feather paintings are made. The ambition is to put at the service of evangelization and conversion the know-how of Amantecas craftsmen specialized in the art of the feather, and gathered in the Amantlan district north of the capital of Tenochtitlan (7). This is how the mixed art of plumage was born.

Feathers have a special status in the Aztec civilization. Mesoamerican people do indeed attribute magical virtues to them, influencing fertility and health (8). They are a material with strong symbolic allusions: they adorn the sculptures of the gods, represent the world beyond and decorate diplomatic gifts. Therefore, they are as valuable to pre-Columbians as precious stones. Their trade is largely regulated by custom (9) and only pochtecas, a community of travellers, are allowed to travel from Mesoamerica to Mexico-Tenochtitlan (10).

Despite the marked contrasts and varied colours of each feather mosaic, few bird species are actually needed to make them. While the Florentino Codex refers to one hundred and twenty-five types of birds in central Mexico during the second half of the 16th century, only about twenty were used by the Aztecs to produce feather paintings (11). Our painting of St. Francis required the use of seventeen specimens from fifteen different species (12). Hummingbird feathers were used for bright black, metallic or iridescent blue, golden green or cream. Parrot and ara feathers were used for the red, yellow, blue or bright green areas, while egret feathers were used for the white. The pink and light purple parts were obtained with American pink spatula feathers. This polychromy gives rise to an important luminescent impression that can be found in the most important feather paintings such as the Holy Family preserved in the Archdiocese of Puebla (fig. 8).

The production of feather mosaics continued until the early 20th century. However, it was in the 16th and first half of the 17th century that it was most successful. The feather paintings of St. Francis and St. Gertrude seem to have been made during this golden age, and more precisely at the beginning of the 17th century. During this period, the mosaics began to be glued to a copper plate (13), while the older works, such as the Mass of Saint Gregory dated 1539, rest on a wooden support (fig. 1). By the technique used, our mosaics can be compared to other 17th century feather inlays, starting with St. Augustine in the Daniel Liebshon Collection in Mexico City (Fig. 9). The realization of our two mosaics is characteristic of the works of this period. Thus the golden borders that surround the outlines of the characters are found on works produced between the 16th and 17th centuries, such as the Holy Mary of the Annunciation (fig. 10). But the complete processing of these feathered images shows that they were indeed produced before the 18th century. From this century onwards, the works became composite, subtly mixing feathers and paint to render details such as hands, faces and feet. The painting of St. Luke and the Virgin (fig. 4) is an obvious example. Moreover, their smaller size than the works of the 16th century perfectly fits in with the movement to reduce their dimensions that took place in the 17th century. It should also be noted that they are among the small works identified in this study (tab. 1 and 2). Finally, the framing of our Saint Francis is also characteristic of 16th and 17th century works. It combines both circular geometric patterns and scroll ornamentation as in the rich box

St. Francis provokes the Pope's disbelief

The founder of the Franciscan Order is one of the first sources of inspiration for pen paintings. Canonized in 1228, François d'Assise was born into the family of a rich drapery merchant who named him "Francesco: le Français (14)", after a trip to France. After a dissipated youth and a brutal conversion, Saint Francis formed the Order of Friars Minor by making the vow to "strive to follow the humility and poverty of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Saint Francis of Assisi, 1RegIX, 1-2). He undertook evangelizing crusades that led him to Egypt, before isolating himself from 1224 on Mount Alverne in Casentino. Even as he had become blind, a mystical vision was offered to him on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Christ appears crucified to him while wounds emanating from rays of light are applied to his pulpit in the form of stigmas. The episode is reported by his biographer Thomas de Celano, then repeated by Saint Bonnaventure in La Vita. Our mosaic of feathers offers us a characteristic representation of the first stigmatized saint of Christianity.

Saint Francis is kneeling on the ground and clothed in a brown bure surrounded by three knots, which symbolize the Franciscan vows of chastity, poverty and obedience (15). With his left hand, he is holding a crucifix while his stigmatized right hand is resting on his heart. The Bible is open in front of him and a skull overhangs it. The image is specific to the post-Tridentine iconography of St. Francis. Indeed, after the Council of Trent held from 1542 to 1563, the saint's representations differed considerably from the medieval images of the Trecento and Quattrocento. Previously thought of as a joyful and smiling saint, he has been represented since that time as an austere penitent. His Franciscan habit was replaced by that of the Capuchins, probably considering that they "more embodied the spirit of penance at that time" (16). Nevertheless, the colour of Saint Francis' cloakroom is often discussed, because of the chromatic distinctions that coexist in all his representations, even though hagiographical writings, such as the Franciscan rule, do not pronounce themselves on the colour of the community's clothing (17).

The stigmatization of St. Francis is the most significant episode of his life. In the context of the Counter-Reformation, it has a strong didactic power which makes it possible to bring the journey of the saint closer to that of Christ in order to consider Francis as a true Christi imitator. St. Francis' mystical vision on Mount Alvern is reminiscent of the scene of the Agony in the Garden of the Olivers, where Christ in prayer is accompanied by the apostles Peter, John and James before being stopped by a Roman troop led by Judas. To locate the scene of our painting in the Umbrian countryside, the artist amantecas uses different plumages. Green parrot feathers are used to represent vegetation, while blue hummingbird feathers represent the sky. Like Christ too, St. Francis receives five stigmas on his feet, hands and flank. In this case, only the wound on the right hand can be distinguished, probably due to a material that cannot accurately record the details of the hagiographic episode. Thus, the Saint Francis kept in the museum of the convent of Guadeloupe (fig. 11) only has the stigmas on his hands and side. While there are more stigmas, the dramatic nature of the composition is less effective, as the iconographic attributes are placed in space in a relatively confusing way. In accordance with the precepts of the Council of Trent, our work places particular emphasis on the dramatic effect of inviting the spectator to reproduce the saint's prayer and recollection. A real ecstasy is presented. Iconographic attributes such as the Bible, the crucifix and the skull - which can be appreciated as a memento mori - help to reinforce the tragic effect of the episode. In this sense, the featherwork preserved at the Franz Mayer Museum is similar to our composition (fig. 12).

The concordance between the representation of our painting and the precepts affirmed at the Council of Trent results from the diffusion in New Spain of contemporary European engravings. The print used to create this painting has not been precisely identified, but engravings in the taste of Willem Pietersz's published between 1612-1613 (fig. 13) are indeed at the origin of his works of feathers. Moreover, the Saint Francis of the Mario Uvence collection is very close to this engraving in its composition (fig. 14), although the image is inverted.

Cultural transfers do not only occur unilaterally from Europe to South America. Feather mosaics do indeed cross the Atlantic to disperse universally in the collections of amateurs. They are used in particular as "diplomatic gifts, such as those made by King Charles V of Spain to several members of the Habsburg family (18)". The diffusion of these works in the West causes surprise. In 1585, for example, when Sixtus V received a pen painting of Saint Francis as a gift from New Spain, he "was sceptical of his nature (19)". The Pope "rises from his throne to touch the object in order to convince himself" (20) and "puts his fingers a little in the painting to see if the colors were natural feathery, or artificial brushes (21)". The facts are reported by the Jesuit José de Acosta in his Historia natural y moral de las Indias (1590). Beyond the anecdote, the episode is not without reminding us of Saint Thomas' incredulity when the risen Christ invites him to touch his wounds to see the miracle (22): "Put your hand forward and push it into my side. Stop being unbelieving, and become a man of faith" (John, XX, 24-29). The scene is strikingly similar, especially since St. Francis is considered a "perfect imitator of Christ". In his role as Saint Thomas, Sixtus V places himself in a position of verifying the artistic quality of the work and gives the material a sacred character (23). More precisely, Acosta's account questions the notions of artifice and nature. He effectively confronts the art of plumage with painting as far as the representation of nature is concerned. In this a priori unbalanced balance of power, the works of feathers clearly go beyond imitating physical reality because they result from nature itself. Consequently, they do not present themselves as mere pastiches of materiality as the art of picturing can be. In this sense, feather mosaics surpass artifice.

Saint Gertrude, patron saint of the nuns of the Conception

Saint Gertrude's inlaid feathers provide the same surprise to her viewer, although the effect is somewhat attenuated by the lower dimensions of the work (tab. 1). In all, seven saints bear the name Gertrude: Saint Gertrude the Elder, Oosten, Comensoli, Nivelles, Altemberg, Remiremont and Helfta. It is the latter that is represented in our table. Born in 1256, she entered the Benedictine convent of Helfta at the age of five, where she was favoured by vision from 27 January 1281. She records them in a series of five volumes, only two of which have survived: The Spiritual Exercises and The Herald of Divine Love. The writings of Gertrude d'Helfta were published from 1536 by Lanspergius and the Carthusian monks of Cologne and popularized by Saint Teresa of Avila, who dedicated herself to her.
In addition to being distributed in Spain, Italy and France, the writings of Saint Gertrude spread to Mexico. Thus "the nuns of the Conception, in Mexico City, obtained to celebrate its feast in 1609. The Monastery of Conception is the oldest women's convent in Mexico, founded in 1530 on the remains of the Axayaca Palace by Isabel Tecuichpo Montezuma, the last Aztec Empress, converted to Catholicism. At the instigation of the Franciscan monks Peter of Ghent and Zumarraga, nuns from a convent in Salamanca, are thus "responsible for bringing together young Indian women and teaching them, with the doctrine and exercises of religion, the various works specific to their sex. (24) ».
At the same time, several cities were founded in Mexico between the 17th and 18th centuries under the name of Santa Gertrudis, due to the particular cult dedicated to him. In 1747 she shared with the Innocent saints the title of patron saint of Puebla and succeeded twelve other saints, including St Michael, St Joseph, St Roch and St Teresa in particular (25).

Despite the cult dedicated to Saint Gertrude in New Spain during the 17th and 18th centuries, our feather marquetry representing her is the only one recorded today among all the works inventoried today (26). She retains all the iconographic attributes of the saint.

Sitting at a work table on which an inkwell is placed, a codex is opened in front of her while her eyes are turned to the heavens. The format, appearance and writing in the book seem to refer to the Aztec tradition. The black squares formally resemble the drawings composing the codices of Mesoamerica. Thus the treatment of the book of our Saint Gertrude is presented as a compromise solution between the naive illustration of the writings of the Bible of Saint Francis of the Convent Museum of Guadeloupe (fig. 11) and the exhaustive typographical transcription proposed in the Mass of Saint Gregory (fig. 1).

With her right hand, the saint presents the Sacred Heart, symbol of mystical love and the human incarnation of God (27). On the other hand, Saint Gertrude holds a feather, illustrating her important writing work. This feather could also represent a fleur-de-lis, which is one of the iconographic attributes of the saint and can be found in Gaulli Giovanni Battista's painting, now in the Louvre Museum (fig. 15).
Our feather painting can obviously be put in perspective with other works of plumage art that also illustrate mystical conversations. The comparison with the Pieta of the Frantz Mayer Museum (fig. 16) shows that the treatment of the eyes is relatively similar to that of our mosaic of Saint Gertrude. On the other hand, it is not found in the prayer of Saint Rita (fig. 17). Rather than directing his gaze to the heavens, the craftsman amantecas actually preferred to leave his eyes ajar. The nuances in the rendering of the figures show that the invention retains a significant place in these works despite Western influences.

Conclusion: the perfect Franciscan tool for evangelization

These two 17th century feather paintings are perfect examples of the confrontation between the civilizations of the New World and the Old Continent that began in the 16th century. They combine Catholic iconography and the Aztec plumbing technique to provide the Franciscan friars with a practical tool for the evangelization of pre-Columbian America. On the other side of the Atlantic, these feather images are perceived as objects of curiosity and a fortiori as proof of the success of Christianization across the ocean. 


Notes

: 1 MONGNE, Pascal. Trésors américains. Collections du Musée des Jacobins d’Auch, Boulogne Billancourt, Éditions du Griot, 1988, p.178.
2 MONGNE, Pascal. « La Sainte et la Sainte Famille un tableau de plumes colonial de la Nouvelle-Espagne (XVIIe siècle) », Cheverny 2013. [En ligne]: https://www.rouillac.com/fr/vendre/ventes_garden_party/ cheverny_2013/383-mosaiques_plumes/ [Consulté le 1er février 2019].
3 RUSSO, Alessandra. « Inventory of Extant Feartherwork from Mesoamericana and New Spain », Images Take Flight. Feather Art in Mexico and Europe 1400-1700. Munich, Hirmer, 2015, p. 435-455.
4 MONGNE, Pascal. « La Sainte et la Sainte Famille... », op. cit..
5 DUVERGER Christian. La conversion des Indiens de Nouvelle-Espagne, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1987, p. 201-205.
6 FERRER-JOLY Fabien. « Plumes, identité de l’Amérique précolombienne ». Plumes. Visions de l’Amérique Précolombienne, Paris, Somogy, 2016, p. 58.
7 DURAND-FOREST Jacqueline de. « Los artesanos mexicas », Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropologicos, Mexico, Sociedad Mexicana, XXX, 1984.
8 AVALREZ-VANHARD Adrien, DEHAIS Anne, MOURA Claire. « Une mosaïque de plumes découverte en Val-de-Loire ». Cheverny 2013, Chambray-les-Tours, Gilbert Clarey, 2013, p. 110.
9 Ibid, p. 50.
10 MONGNE Pascal. « Les techniques de la plumasserie aztèque ». Plumes. Visions de l’Amérique Précolombienne, Paris, Somogy, 2016, p. 88.
11 Ibid., p. 86. MONGNE Pascal. « In Totôlt in Amanteca. Les oiseaux de la plumasserie aztèque ». Dossiers du GEMESO, n°2, décembre 2011. Disponible sur: http://www.gemeso.com/wp-content/uploads/ 2010/05/11mai-2012-GEMESO-2-der.pdf [Consulté le 7 février 2019].
12 BAUERNFEIND, Ernst. Rapport zoologie, Vienne, Musée national d’histoire naturelle, 2 juillet 2016. 13 FERRER-JOLY Fabien. Op. cit., p. 69.
14 RÉAU, Louis. Iconographie de l’art chrétien, Paris, PUF, 1958, p. 516.
15 Ibid., p. 519.
16 Ibid. p. 529, in. ALBOCACER, Augustin de. « Influencia de la reforma capuchina en el mode de representar a San Francisco en la pintura », Liber Memorialis Ord. Frair. Min., Rome, 1928.
17 ROUCHON MOUILLERON Véronique. « Quelle couleur pour les frères? Regards sur l’habit des Mineurs aux XIIIe-XIVe siècles », Bulletin du Centre d’études médiévales d’Auxerre, 18.1, 2014. [En ligne]: https://
journals.openedition.org/cem/13378#quotation . [Consulté le 11 février 2019]
18 AVALREZ-VANHARD Adrien, DEHAIS Anne, MOURA Claire. Ibid., p. 110. 19 Ibidem.
20 Ibidem.
21 ACOSTA, José de. Historia natural y moral de las Indias, (trad. en français, Paris, Payot, 1979), Seville, 1590, in. RUSSO, Alexandra. « Image-plume, temps-reliquaire? Tangibilité d’une histoire esthétique (Nouvelle- Espagne, XVIe-XVIIe siècle) », Images-RE-vues, 2008. [En ligne]. Disponible sur: https:// journals.openedition.org/imagesrevues/988#bodyftn5
22 Ibid.
23 RUSSO, Alessandra. « A Contemporary Art from New Spain », Images Take Flight. Feather Art in Mexico
and Europe 1400-1700. Munich, Hirmer, 2015, p. 45.
24 RAMOS, L. Frances. Identity, Ritual and Power in Colonial Puebla, Arizona, University of Arizona Press, p. 83
25 BRASSEUR de BOURBOURG, Histoire des nations civilisées du Mexique, Arthus Bertrand, Paris, 1839, p. 778.
26 RUSSO, Alessandra. « Inventory of Extant Feartherwork from Mesoamericana and New Spain », Images Take Flight. Feather Art in Mexico and Europe 1400-1700. Munich, Hirmer, 2015, p. 435-455.
27 HAMON, Auguste. Histoire de la dévotion au Sacré-Cœur, t. II, Paris, Beauchesne, 1925.

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