The viceroyalty encompassed modern-day Peru as well as much of the rest of South America, the Portuguese controlled what is today Brazil.
1534–1820 C.E.
Beginner's Guide
What is the Viceroyalty of Peru?
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Official Portrait of Bishop Luis Francisco Romero
Never underestimate the power of a well-chosen accessory!
Portraits of Francisca Ramírez de Laredo and Antonio de Ulloa
These portraits of a couple show us what the sitters want us to see about them, and conceal the less glamorous details of their lives
The Child Mary Spinning
This luxuriously dressed Virgin Mary as a child spinning cloth may have spoken to the rich textile traditions of Indigenous cultures in Peru
The Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity
The Trinity visualized as triplets was a common subject in 18th-century Peru—and beyond
Churches of Chiloé
The Churches of Chiloé represent a unique example in Latin America of an outstanding form of ecclesiastical wooden architecture.
Melchor Pérez de Holguín, Entry of the Viceroy Archbishop Morcillo into Potosí
Pérez de Holguín creates an opulent vision of the city of Potosí, disregarding the infamous stories of poverty and exploitation in the mines of the Cerro Rico
Conserving Cuzco School Paintings
Follow the conservation treatment and research of “Emblem of Folly,” a painting from colonial Cuzco. Committed study of these works can help create a better understanding of Latinx cultural identity and history.
Alonso de Ovalle, Tabula geographica regni Chile
The Ovalle map is one the earliest maps of Chile that circulated around Europe, and includes people, plants, and animals to create a vivid sense of the lands controlled by the Spanish Crown.
Introduction to the Viceroyalty of Peru
The arts of colonial Peru are neither fully pre-Columbian nor fully European, but a dynamic combination.
“Bad Confession” in Guaman Poma’s The First New Chronicle and Good Government
Guaman Poma's “The Bad Confession” image participates in a larger argument about the ability for native Andeans to rule themselves without Spanish intervention.
Textiles in the Colonial Andes
Textiles remained important items after the Spanish conquest in the Viceroyalty of Peru. Churches were even painted with textile murals to endow these spaces with sacredness.
Early Viceregal Architecture and Art in Colombia
Roman mythology, Christian iconography, European painting and sculpture, and indigenous traditions come together in the art of South America soon after the Spanish conquest.
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