NOVOHISPANIC BAROQUE: CHARACTERISTICS, ARCHITECTURE, PAINTING - ART - 2025

The b novohispano arroco or Mexican baroque was an artistic movement that prevailed in New Spain in the sixteenth century to the eighteenth. It even spread to the north until the beginning of the 19th century. In this movement, classical forms and ornaments were organized or manipulated for the viewer with the greatest illusion of movement, visual excitement, and emotional participation.

The baroque style had started in Europe as a kind of continuation of the Renaissance. Later, the drastic differences between the two styles were appreciated. The dramatic character of Baroque art was exploited by religious and secular absolutism.

Cathedral of Mexico City, an example of New Spanish Baroque

Baroque architecture, sculpture and painting flourished at the service of the Catholic Church and the monarchies that professed this religion. In general, Baroque artists focused particularly on natural forms, spaces, colors, and lights. The purpose was to produce a strong, yet silent, emotional experience.

For their part, the New Spain Baroque artists sought to surprise the viewer. Contrasts like light and shadow, or the sudden and unexpected, helped to achieve that effect.

They sought the dissolution of unity, instead of equilibrium. The scenes were usually very emotionally charged, depicting moments and poses of exaggerated dramatic intensity.

characteristics

Mid 18th century

The Baroque movement predominated in central and southern Europe from the late 16th to the early 18th century. However, the New Spain baroque reached its climax several decades later. In New Spain, for example, several important buildings that followed this style were still under construction after the mid-18th century.

Great influence

In the New World, and especially in New Spain, this movement had a deep and lasting influence. The Baroque attempted a synthesis of opposing conditions and experiences.

Balance of themes

A balance was sought based on the tension between mortality and immortality, sensuality and asceticism, youth and old age.

Furthermore, its predominant religious themes and architectural styles largely reflected the expressionism of the Hellenistic period. The influence of classicism that had inspired the Italian Renaissance was less present.

Reaffirmed doctrines of the Catholic Church

At the same time, the Baroque style and sentiment grew with Catholicism or the Counter-Reformation. The Baroque of New Spain reaffirmed and elaborated the traditional doctrines of the Catholic Church.

Among these doctrines were: the Eucharist as a sacrifice, the intermediary role of the priesthood, devotion to the Mother of God, the intercessory powers of Mary and the saints, the spiritual value of religious life and others.

Architecture

The architecture is the most palpable evidence of the New Spain Baroque. Until about 1650, the civic buildings and monasteries and other churches of New Spain displayed an eclectic mix of Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance. Later, he gave in to an American version of the Baroque.

The architecture of the New Spain Baroque tended to simplify its European sources. The manipulation of space was a vital aspect of much of European Baroque architecture.

On the other hand, the New Spain woman paid more attention to surface modeling than to the manipulation of masses and volumes. This modeling could be complex and dramatic. In fact, the elaborate decoration is the hallmark of this architectural style.

As an example, we can mention the Cathedral of Mexico City, one of the largest Spanish-American churches. In it there are massive pilasters that project from the main plane of the facade.

These are attached to it by large stone supports. Away from it, there are the doors to the nave and the two side corridors. It also has smaller decorations which affects the crowd play a bit.

In the same way, many minor churches of the New Spain Baroque are distinguished by the decorative ornament on the outside. Their facades are highly carved, and perhaps they have two decorated bell towers flanking them.

If not for this, they would be little more than two blocks intersecting with a dome. Inside they exhibit massive, intricate and gilded altarpieces.

Painting

The Baroque painting of New Spain was inspired by the imported work of Spanish and Flemish painters. These works comprised originals, copies, and prints.

Francisco de Zurbarán and Peter Paul Rubens were the dominant influences during the second half of the seventeenth century. Sebastián López de Arteaga, a disciple of Zurbarán, emigrated from Cádiz to New Spain in 1643. His disciples incorporated the color, style, and mannered formulas of the Baroque into New Spanish art.

Additionally, Spaniard Baltazar de Echave y Rioja helped introduce surprising textural effects to New Spain painting. Likewise, the realism and chiaroscuro of New Spanish art acquired the exuberance and pink coloration of Rubens.

On the other hand, the works of the master painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo also exerted a great influence. These were genuinely appreciated for their composition, color and design.

They were also endowed with grace, elegance, and emotional sensitivity. This was imitated by the Baroque artists of New Spain. However, they failed to control the emotional tone of religious matter with great success.

By the end of the 17th century, the golden age of Baroque painting in New Spain was almost over. Cristóbal de Villalpando stands out from this period. He is considered by many to be the most elegant and great painter in Mexico. Many of his works are heroic in proportions, highly imaginative with bright colors and full of energy.

Music

Native musicians had been introduced to polyphony during the first century of Spanish rule. This was done through the education and indoctrination of religious orders.

Spanish teachers formed and led musical groups largely with local talent. The Indians were especially skilled as instrumentalists.

Now, most of the music available since the early seventeenth century was liturgical, in the conservative contrapuntal style or in simple homophony. But music for multiple choirs was also cultivated.

Later, and throughout the 18th century, the polychoral and concert styles became common for both Latin sacred music and Christmas carols.

After 1670, the development of formal and stylistic characteristics closely followed that of Spain. The Spanish style became dominant. The carol was cultivated in a prolific way. This was adapted to local traditions and absorbed native and popular elements.

References

1. Fraser Giffords, G. (2007). Sanctuaries of Earth, Stone, and Light: The Churches of Northern New Spain, 1530-1821. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
2. New World Encyclopedia. (2016, May 12). Baroque art. Retrieved on January 31, 2018, from newworldencyclopedia.org.
3. Hamnett, BR (2003). A Concise History of Mexico. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Bakewell, P. (2010). A History of Latin America to 1825. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.
5. Griffith, JS (2001). Baroque principles of organization in contemporary Mexican American Arizona. In AG Meléndez, J. Young, Moore, P. and Pynes (editors), The Multicultural Southwest: A Reader, pp. 141-155. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
6. Stein, LK (1998). The Spanish and Portuguese heritage. In JA Sadie (editor), Companion to Baroque Music, pp. 327-336. Berkeley: University of California Press.