Los Funerales De Atahualpa Essay

Image Presentation – Los Funerales de Atahualpa “Los Funerales de Atahualpa” or in English, The Funeral of Atahualpa, was painted by the famous Hispanic artist, Luis Montero. According to a press release on the artwork by the “Congreso de la Republica del Peru,” the painting depicts a true historical event of several Incan women dramatically interrupting the funeral ceremony of their assassinated Atahualpa king. The Spanish conquistador, Francisco Pizarro, and his men are performing the Christian ceremony on the right side of the painting with much solemnity and apathy. The Incan women, however, are theatrically depicted on the left side of the painting in protest and mourning due to the disgrace of such an un-Incan burial ritual. While the painting portrays a very real event in Latin American history, I chose to research more into “Los Funerales de Atahualpa” when I noticed that it was made with a more artistically European renaissance style and technique. I wanted to figure out the truth behind the painting, because our
The Provincial Art Museum Council of Peru explains that the artist, Montero, purposefully displayed the Incan women as white and European-like. He even has them positioned in the area of the room lit up by the sun, giving them the role of the good in the eyes of the Inca who worshiped the sun god, and Pizarro and his men in the dark are seen as more “evil.” Montero made sure that the Incan women had a European-like appearance, because this look is recognized as one of superiority and intelligence, rather than the inferior and poor reputation that is associated with indigenous people. He calls this an “operatic” style, and a majority of his paintings do this by excluding native customs, ethnic and Indian features to show how the culture was destroyed and replaced by a more superior Spanish