In the eighteenth century, New Spaniards (colonial Mexicans) so lauded their nuns that they developed a local tradition of visually opulent portraits, called monjas coronadas or "crowned nuns," that picture their subjects in regal trappings at the moment of their religious profession and in death. This study identifies these portraits as markers of a vibrant and changing society that fused together indigenous and Euro-Christian traditions and ritual practices to construct a new and complex religious identity that was unique to New Spain.

To discover why crowned-nun portraits, and especially the profession portrait, were in such demand in New Spain, this book offers a pioneering interpretation of these works as significant visual contributions to a local counter-colonial discourse. James M. Cordova demonstrates that the portraits were a response to the Spanish crown's project to modify and modernize colonial society-a series of reforms instituted by the Bourbon monarchs that threatened many nuns' religious identities in New Spain. His analysis of the portraits' rhetorical devices, which visually combined Euro-Christian and Mesoamerican notions of the sacred, shows how they promoted local religious and cultural values as well as client-patron relations, all of which were under scrutiny by the colonial Church. Combining visual evidence from images of the "crowned nun" with a discussion of the nuns' actual roles in society, Cordova reveals that nuns found their greatest agency as Christ's brides, a title through which they could, and did, challenge the Church's authority when they found it intolerable.

About the Author
James M. Cordova is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he teaches pre-Columbian and colonial Latin American art.

Reviews
In a fascinating analysis of crowned nun portraits of New Spain, James M. Cordova examines in detail how the tradition of painting women nuns in regal attire and intricate crowns of flowers originated in the Spanish American colonies. * Letras Femeninas, A Journal of Women and Gender Studies in Hispanic Literature and Culture *



Book Information
ISBN 9780292753150
Author James M. Cordova
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint University of Texas Press
Publisher University of Texas Press
Weight(grams) 626g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 28mm