New Spain: c. 1521 – 1821
After the Spanish invasions in Mexico, many objects associated with Indigenous religion and knowledge were burned or destroyed.
“Burning of the Idols,” in Diego Muñoz ...
Talavera poblana, the distinct blue-and-white ceramics from Puebla Mexico, have a complex and fascinating history of transpacific and transatlantic connections.
Talavera poblana
Escudos de monjas are an important genre of art made in the viceroyalty of New Spain, one that gives us a glimpse into how nuns fashioned themselves.
Escudos de monjas, or nuns’ badges, in ...
Taking inspiration from European portraits, this painting shows off the wealth of the sitter in colonial Mexico with her elaborate fashion
Miguel de Herrera, Portrait of a Lady
This small painting contains one of the only known depictions of Black, enslaved figures from the Spanish Caribbean during the colonial era (1492–1898).
José Campeche, Exvoto de la Sagrada Familia
As Puerto Rico’s most sought-after painter in the late 18th and early 19th century, José Campeche y Jordán holds an important and singular space in the art history of the Spanish Caribbean.
José Campeche, the portraitist of 18th-century Puerto ...
The well-regarded Puerto Rican artist José Campeche was commissioned by the city of San Juan to commemorate Castro's successful defense of the city from British troops in 1797.
José Campeche y Jordán, Portrait of Governor ...
Indigenous artists in Mexico portrays the first images of Black Africans in the Americas.
Images of Africans in the Codex Telleriano ...
What remains of the Casa del Deán is an outstanding example of renaissance architecture and murals made in the viceroyalty of New Spain.
La Casa del Deán in Puebla
The importance of classical architecture to Puebla’s 16th- and 17th-century colonial history helps to reframe our understanding of the renaissance as it has been traditionally understood.
Puebla de los Ángeles and the classical ...
Japanese objects came through Mexico on their way to Spain, and had a lasting impact on the arts of the Americas.
Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and ...
After the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, the Indigenous technique of featherworking continued with Christian subject matter.
A shimmering saint, St. John in featherwork
Learn about Joseph, Mary, and the representation of marriage in New Spain in López de Arteaga's painting
Sebastián López de Arteaga, Marriage of the ...
An 18th-century painting from New Spain visualizes Christ's suffering in New Spain
Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz, Christ Consoled by ...
San Agustín de Acolman’s style suggests a protective function, and may have referenced the temple of Jerusalem, celebrating Mexico as a “New Jerusalem” where the Christian faith could flourish.
A new Jerusalem in the Americas—the convento ...
A Nativity group made in wood from colonial Guatemala shows why sculptors from this area were renowned in the viceroyalties
Nativity group, from Guatemala
The images in the Huexotzinco Codex help us to learn more about tribute, conquest and the conditions of colonialism, Native agency, Nahua writing systems, Indigenous knowledge, the importance of images, early Christianity in the Americas, and legal disputes.
The Codex Huexotzinco
One of the most remarkable churches from 18th-century Mexico has a façade and interior that seem to writhe with life.
Church of Santa Prisca and San Sebastian, ...
Merchants brought goods from across oceans to sell to the residents of the city in the Parián of Mexico City—a place that Cristóbal de Villalpando's captures in a painting from 1695
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