A critical contribution to the burgeoning field of Spanish colonial art, this catalog to the exhibition Behind Closed Doors reveals how art and luxury goods signaled the identity and status of Spanish Americans struggling to claim their place in a fluid New World hierarchy. Essays lead the reader through the elite Spanish American home, illuminating a dazzling array of both imported and domestic household goods. There, visitors encountered European-inspired portraiture, religious paintings used as signifiers of status as well as for private devotion, and objects that spoke to the owner’s social and racial identity.
Pages
224
Format
Paperback
ISBN 13
9780872731721
Behind Closed Doors Art in the Spanish American Home, 1492-1898
A critical contribution to the burgeoning field of Spanish colonial art, this catalog to the exhibition Behind Closed Doors reveals how art and luxury goods signaled the identity and status of Spanish Americans struggling to claim their place in a fluid New World hierarchy. Essays lead the reader through the elite Spanish American home, illuminating a dazzling array of both imported and domestic household goods. There, visitors encountered European-inspired portraiture, religious paintings used as signifiers of status as well as for private devotion, and objects that spoke to the owner’s social and racial identity.