Some Arborescent Motifs in Architectural Reliefs: Augustinian Convent Heritage in Colonial America

Abstract

The present study focuses on specific ornamental pictorial evidence, which has remained hidden for centuries, in a 17th-century convent complex, in Salamanca, Mexico. Thus, this research aims at describing specific contextual periods of the estate of the convent in which it is housed and estimates the influence of grotesque pictorial style and its meaning during the period of Viceroyalty of New Spain. For this purpose, we recognise specific ornaments of the style for a formal compositional analysis and uncover references to some plant species which inspired the cultural iconographic traits of the region in that historical frame. Conceptually, we reviewed the communication of ideas based on the nature of the grottesco (grotesque) aesthetics, and the adoption of this style by Hispanic friars to design the spatial environment of the New Spain convents. I adopt a qualitative methodology to describe five ornamental units, two corresponding to the nave of a temple and three dedicated to its main cloister. We identified ornamental structures that were visually motivated mainly by certain plant species. In short, this study proposes an emerging approach to artistic heritage conservation by unveiling evidence indeterminately lost in time and hidden in the changing architectural needs of an evolving society.