Architectural Rhetoric and the Iconography of Authority in Colonial Mexico by Barteet, C. Cody;

Short description:

This book investigates the role of the architectural façade as an indicator of individual and communal cultural identities, focusing on a residence of a conquistador rather than religious and monarchial structures.

Long description:

This book investigates the Casa de Montejo and considers the role of the building’s Plateresque façade as a form of visual rhetoric that conveyed ideas about the individual and communal cultural identities in sixteenth-century Yucatán. C. Cody Barteet analyzes the façade within the complex colonial world in which it belongs, including in multicultural Yucatán and the transatlantic world. This contextualization allows for an examination of the architectural rhetoric of the façade, the design of which visualizes the contestations of autonomy and authority occurring among the colonial peoples.

"Barteet provides an unparalleled level of historical context ... In particular, Barteet excels at drawing connections between historical documents and material evidence obtained through archival and field research to the architectural sites."

--Rhetorica

"The book’s five chapters broaden the picture of architecture and visual culture in postconquest Yucatán and contextualize the Montejo façade and its legacy within the political, social, cultural, and urban dynamics of the region and the larger sixteenth-century Iberian Atlantic world."

--Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture

Table of Contents:

Introduction;  1. The Casa de Montejo and Mérida; 2. The Plateresque Façade and Communal Identity in Spain;  3. The Montejo Façade and the Position of Adelantado;  4. Tihó-Mérida and the Casa de Montejo;  5. Gaspar Antonio Chi’s Heraldic Imagery and the Casa de Montejo Façade;  Conclusion