European art and the evangelization of the New World

The spread of the Baroque in Spanish America, especially in Peru, was closely linked to the work of evangelization undertaken by the various Religious Orders in the territory of the Viceroyalty of South America. Given the objective difficulty of communicating the precepts of Christianity clearly so as not to be distorted by the original indigenous Andean tradition of worship, the use of sacred works of art, with their strong visual impact, was regarded as a strategy for the purpose of evangelization. For this reason, in addition to decorating the many churches which had been built in the meantime, the arrival of numerous European artists, specifically painters was encouraged. The numerous requests from several parts of the Viceroyalty of Peru required the formation of local schools which produced works in large quantities, often unsigned as though they had been created collectively. In truth, this process had already begun at the end of the sixteenth century, following the artistic models imported from the late Renaissance and Mannerism, and it was explained in the spread of Mannerism in South America. (photo: Church of the Company of Jesus, Cuzco).

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