DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/76B4-B086
Defense Date
2014
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts
Department
Art History
First Advisor
Michael Schreffler
Abstract
The painting Plaza Mayor de Lima de los Reinos de el Peru, año de 1680, which is held in the collection of the Museo de América in Madrid, presents an idealized image of social interaction in the Plaza Mayor with its depiction of people from a variety of social groups. Little is known surrounding the painting’s commission, and recent scholarship focuses primarily on the colonial architecture within the image. This thesis seeks to shift the scholarly dialogue by examining the depictions of the female figures within the painting. As this thesis will argue, both the portrayal of the female figures in different modes of dress and the location of the figures within the painting document the ways in which distinctions in race and economic class were understood in seventeenth-century Lima. By analyzing the dress and the positioning of the figures, the interactions of Europeans, West Africans, indigenous and mixed raced persons are revealed.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
May 2014