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Contents of Case 34: 24 objects

Spanish Colonial case

Not all colonial art made in the Americas was produced in the Anglo-American or Dutch-American colonies of North America. From the sixteenth through the early nineteenth century, the thriving cities of Mexico City in New Spain, and Lima and Cuzco in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru represented another, very different colonial experience in America. Whereas the colonies that would become the United States were northern European in character, founded primarily by members of the middle class, and staunchly Protestant, Spain’s colonies were Catholic and followed the model of European aristocracy, where a small number of nobles controlled vast land holdings. In addition, because the Spanish settlers had encountered large indigenous populations—the Inca in Peru and the Aztec and Maya in Mexico—whose artistic traditions they admired and adopted, the Spanish colonies were unique in colonial America in their combination of native and European influences.

 

Despite these differences, Spanish Americans, like the colonists of Anglo-America, came to feel more American than European, and in the early nineteenth century, after centuries of rule from Europe, they began to struggle for their independence. In an effort to distinguish themselves from their European roots, artists in the Spanish colonies sometimes turned toward their indigenous past for inspiration.

 

The Brooklyn Museum’s collection has strong holdings of art made during the colonial period in both Mexico and Peru, ranging from paintings and sculpture to silver and furniture. Much of these collections was acquired in the summer of 1941, when the Museum sent the curator Herbert Spinden to South America on a collecting expedition. At this time, the United States was building hemispheric unity in a futile attempt to turn away from the war in Europe, before the country was plunged into the conflict that December. More Spanish colonial material is on exhibition in the adjacent American Identities galleries.

Visible Storage: Case 34, Shelf A (Spanish Colonial Art)
	41.1275.167	Writing Cabinet (Escritorio) late 18th-early 19th century View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 34, Shelf B (Spanish Colonial Art)
	51.102a	Traveling Desk (Escritorio) 18th century View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 34, Shelf C (Spanish Colonial Art)
	40.129	José Rafael Aragón Our Lady of Sorrows (Nuestra Señora de los Dolores) ca. 1821-1835 View object details...
	48.206.30a-c	Unknown Crowned Virgin and Christ Child ca. 18th century View object details...
	1989.77	Unknown Death Image ca. 1900 View object details...
	11.694.9074	Molleno Nuestra Señora de San Juan de Lagos (Our Lady of Saint John of the Lakes) ca. 1805-45 View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 34, Shelf D (Spanish Colonial Art)
	02.257.2425	Zia Pueblo Carved Figure (Bulto) of Saint Joseph 19th century View object details...
	41.1273.16a-b	Pair of Stirrups of the Crown Type 19th century View object details...
	41.1275.7	Unknown Coca-Leaf Box 18th century View object details...
	41.1275.13	Unknown The Annunciation 18th century View object details...
	41.1275.14	Unknown The Meeting of Joachim and Anna 18th century View object details...
	41.1275.215	Figure of St. Anthony and the Christ Child 1806 View object details...
	42.149	Quechua Qero Cup late 17th-18th century View object details...
	42.384	Hispano-Philippine Virgin probably 18th century View object details...
	55.36.4	Container in the Shape of a Turkey early 19th century View object details...
	58.37	Unknown Virgin of Quito second half 18th century View object details...
	2003.50.2	Mate Cup late 19th century View object details...
	2003.50.3	Mate Cup late 19th century View object details...
	2003.50.4	Drinking Straw mid-19th century View object details...
	2003.50.5	Drinking Straw mid-19th century View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 34, Shelf E (Spanish Colonial Art)
	45.128.198	Unknown Crucifix 19th century View object details...
	2011.58.1	Unknown Easy Chair (Butaca) second quarter 19th century View object details...
BMA, 5Q12-LUCE, Unit 34, Shelf F
	2011.86.2	Peruvian Chest ca. 1700 View object details...
	2011.86.3	Peruvian Chest ca. 1700 View object details...