The image depicts the retinue formed by the Emperor Montezuma and his nobles, organised to meet Hernán Cortés and welcome him as he entered the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital. This work is part of a set of 24 panels produced using the technique of ‘enconchado’. This passage of the Conquest of Mexico was narrated by numerous chroniclers, who served as inspiration for the authors of several pictorial series in which the images depict the most significant events of the story. The series is signed in 1698 by two painters who lived in Mexico City, the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain: Juan and Miguel González, the most famous artists in the production of enconchados. The entire ensemble was commissioned for King Charles II and from the beginning of the 18th century it became part of the royal collections. In the enconchados, the pictorial layer is combined with fragments of mother-of-pearl arranged on a preparation of plaster applied to a wooden support, often covered with canvas. The production of this type of work can be traced to Mexico between the mid-17th and 18th centuries.
Collection: Images
Project: 6. Under a cloak of terror: violence and armed conflict in Europe., 9. Travels and travelers: economic, social and cultural connections.
Chronology: XVI
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Image
Format: Panel, canvas, oil painting, mother-of-pearl, 97 x 53 cm.
Source: Museo de América (Madrid)
Language: Spanish
Date: 1698
Owner: María del Mar Felices de la Fuente (Modernalia)
Identifier: MAM 00110
Copyright: Museo de América (Madrid). Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte
Abstract: Image representing the retinue formed by the emperor Montezuma and his nobles, organised to meet Hernán Cortés and receive him on his entry into the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlán.
Image
Tags
AméricaComitivasConquistadoresConquistasGobernadoresHernán CortésImperio AztecaMéxicoMoctezumaNobleza aztecaNuevo MundoSiglo XVITenochtitlan
