This ivory sculpture of Jesus traveled between three continents, demonstrating the global flow of materials, objects, and Christianity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Location City: Mexico City
Santiago became an important saint in New Spain, recast to convey Spanish dominance over the Indigenous population in the sixteenth century.
Saintly violence? Santiago on Horseback
The largest cathedral in Latin America is an impressive space, filled with ornate altarpieces, soaring wall paintings, and polychromed wooden sculpture.
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City
The goal of the eagle warrior was to capture the greatest number of captives, who would then be sacrificed to the Mexica gods. All warriors rose in rank according to the number of captives they acquired.
Eagle Warrior (Mexica)
What exactly is the surprise that this painting holds in store for us? There are several interpretations.
Picturing Racial and Social Identities in José ...
What does the music of heaven sound like?
What does the music of heaven sound ...
Drawing attention to the untold stories and silenced voices of women.
Mónica Mayer, The Clothesline
This multimedia architectural altarpiece took two decades to complete, and required teams of workers in many media.
Jerónimo de Balbás, Altar of the Kings (Altar ...
The Spanish destroyed the main Aztec temple: an expression of spiritual and political conquest.
Unearthing the Aztec past, the destruction of ...
Capable of being male or female, the Earth Lord Tlaltecuhtli is shown here as a woman who has given birth.
Monolith of Tlaltecuhtli (Earth Lord)
A continuous narrative, this shows three different parts of the story, each in a different part of the landscape.
Baltasar de Echave Ibía, The Hermits
This vessel represents the goggle-eyed deity associated with rain and crops, critical for the agricultural Aztecs.
Tlaloc vessel
Rivera celebrates indigenous culture, but also points to poverty in this melancholy painting of a flower seller.
Diego Rivera, Calla Lilly Vendor (Vendedora de ...
This screen offers an idealized bird’s eye view of Mexico City on one side, and depicts the Conquest on the other.
Biombo with the Conquest of Mexico and ...
These seventeen baby-faced figures may have represented a priestly ritual, a sacrifice, or a procession.
Offering #4, La Venta
Cabrera fancied himself the Michelangelo of Mexico, but chose to borrow the format and iconography of Rubens.
Miguel Cabrera, Virgin of the Apocalypse
Over a hundred lintel relief sculptures depicting scenes from royal life survive from Yaxchilán.
Yaxchilán—Lintels 24 and 25 from Structure 23 ...
Why was the original version of this mural at New York’s Rockefeller Center destroyed within months of its creation?
Diego Rivera, Man Controller of the Universe
This multimedia architectural altarpiece took two decades to complete, and required teams of workers in many media.
Jerónimo de Balbás, Altar of the Kings (Altar ...
This was buried in an offering at an Aztec temple, some 1500 years later and far from where it was made.