The Aztecs at the Getty Villa
Posted on 19. Jun, 2010 by Gray Beltran in Art, Arts & Culture, Blog
When the Spanish arrived in the Aztec capital (present-day Mexico City) in 1519, they stumbled upon a glorious civilization beyond anything they could have possibly imagined. At the same time, Hernán Cortés and his men encountered a pagan culture that reveled in ritual human sacrifice.
But despite the mystification and revulsion, a thread of recognition remained for the Europeans. In the exhibition The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire, the curators at the Getty Villa argue–quite convincingly–that the conquistadors looked to Rome for an imperial point of reference from which to judge the Aztec empire.
The Florentine Codex, one of the highlights of the exhibition, is one historical document that makes explicit connections between the Aztecs and Romans. Documenting Aztec culture and history in both Spanish and Nahuatl (the language spoken by the Aztecs), the codex contains watercolor illustrations of the principal gods and goddesses worshipped by the Aztecs. In one section of the codex, the war god Huitzilopochtli is identified as “another Hercules” while an Aztec goddess named Tlaculteutl is compared to Venus. Since the pages remain bound together, only two pages of the remarkably well-preserved work are displayed in the exhibition, though thousands of illustrations comprise the centuries-old book.
In a separate engraving, made by a French artist in 1723, the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl is depicted wearing a winged cap similar to the Roman god Mercury’s (Quetzalcoatl’s name signifies “feathered serpent” in Nahuatl). The engraving itself is even titled The Mercury of the Mexicans.
Sculptures feature prominently in the exhibition, but more to exemplify the artistic virtuosity of the Aztecs than to offer overt comparisons to Roman sculpture (which occupies a great deal of the Getty Villa’s permanent collection). One exception is the curators’ inclusion of a bronze eagle fashioned by a Roman sculptor sometime between 100 and 300 A.D. In the exhibition, the imperial-looking bronze eagle is contrasted with a simpler Aztec eagle constructed from volcanic rock. What these two pieces lack in stylistic similarity, they share in cultural symbolism; for both Romans and Aztecs, the eagle was a symbol of tremendous potency, an emblem of unparalleled political and military strength.
In the end, the Aztecs’ rich cultural parallels with Rome may have been both a blessing and a curse. For even as Europeans equated the Aztec empire with the glory of Rome, the Spanish also resolved to replace Aztec icons with Christ in the grip of proselytistic zeal and their own lust for empire.
The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire at the Getty Villa through July 5.
www.getty.edu/visit
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