The Virgin of the Macana, second half of the 18th century, oil on canvas (History Collections New Mexico History Museum) image source
The painting of the Virgin of Macana, seen above, is an illustration of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. It was a version of history as seen from the Franciscan perspective to inspire future missionaries. This painting, and others like it, were used to justify the atrocities inflicted upon the indigenous peoples during the European pursuit of colonization. The Franciscans viewed Mary as their protector and defender who oversaw their missions. God would have approved of the conversions which is illustrated above with God looking down and smiling upon those who are kneeling and praying to the Virgin Mary.
The artist who painted this picture was most likely referencing the text, Teatro mexicano (1698), written by Franciscan Friar Agustin de Vetancurt as the main source for the battle. The text contained historical accounts of the uprising as told by Spanish soldiers as well as accounts from funeral orations honoring the Franciscans who were felled during the uprising. There is no mention of accounts given by the Pueblo people so we must assume that it was a lopsided historical viewpoint.
The central figure is that of the Virgin Mary as a statue with a wound in her forehead holding a macana, a wooden weapon that was used by the Nahua peoples of Central Mexico. The wound in her forehead represents the uprising and violence done to the statue during the revolt. The attempt to destroy the statue left a mark on it to be remembered as miraculous in the future. On her left a Franciscan monk, and to the right, a Puebloan leaning on a macana. These two figures represent the two groups who were at odds with one another. The presence of the macana, which was not a weapon of the ancestral Puelboans, indicates a lack of care given to the detail of the Pueblo nation. Within the battle scene we have two types of Puebloans. In the background we have the savages that are busy mutilating and engaging in battle while the foreground shows the pious subjugated type. There is even an image of a Puebloan being hanged by the devil in the right background. There’s a lot of chaos that God is looking down upon including a small scene of Puebloans attacking a statue of the Virgin Mary. The artist was using tropes or stereotypical representations, to indicate that the noncompliant indigenous people were either savages (mostly naked but for feathers, brutalizing others) or subjugates while the Spanish soldiers and Franciscan monks appear to be victims and martyrs (kneeling piously with praying hands while being attacked).
The Fransiscan Missionaries were sent to the Americas in order to convert the locals to the religion of Christianity. They were zealous Monks who believed they were saving the souls of the idolatrous savages. When Sante Fe was founded in 1607 it was the Franciscans who looked to the spiritual salvation of the local Puebloans. It was not uncommon for them to abuse the people in their quest. This, of course, escalated the tensions between the two groups and eventually we had the uprising, or Pueblo revolt of 1680. A century later the region had been firmly reconquered by the Spanish, but the Franciscans were still sending missionaries in order to convert and save the souls of the indigenous population. This painting and others like it were meant to inspire those that would devote their lives to these tasks.
Art can be a powerful tool when used to promote a narrative, and this artist appears to have painted the Spanish in a positive and pious light while depicting the Pueblo peoples as savages in need of salvation. It’s a visual defense of the eradication and prohibition of native customs in order to save souls from eternal damnation. The Virgin of the Macana is a reminder that the Franciscans believed that God wanted the natives to convert them. It is a lopsided story that lacks a voice, but hopefully, we can restore this bias through research and understanding. By looking at multiple viewpoints and revisiting historical accounts we can re-contextualizing these works of art.
Source
Dr. Emmanuel Ortega, "The Virgin of the Macana and the Pueblo Revolution of 1680," in Smarthistory, October 16, 2020, accessed March 20, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/virgin-macana/.
