A study of the Christ of Ixmiquilpan, a historically beloved religious icon from sixteenth-century Mexico, and its evolving cultural importance. The life-sized crucifix known as the Christ of Ixmiquilpan (also the SeNor de Santa Teresa) was one of the most important artworks in colonial Mexico. The statue began as an ordinary devotional image, but in 1621 devotees witnessed it undergo a miraculous renovation that gave it a supernatural beauty. Over the next two and half centuries, its perceived power increased until it was surpassed in importance only by the Virgin of Guadalupe. Despite its historical significance, the Christ of Ixmiquilpan's history has yet to be fully told. Derek Burdette brings the miraculous crucifix out of the shadows and explores its instrumental role in shaping the devotional culture of New Spain. Following the arc of the statue's life, he chronicles the story of the statue's creation, miraculous renovation, and subsequent veneration at the heart of Mexico City. He also reveals how colonial politics were woven into the statue's life from the very start. Reconstructing the history of a key artwork, Miraculous Celebrity sheds new light on the intersection of art, faith, and politics in the Spanish colonial world.
Derek S. Burdette is an assistant professor of art history in the School of Art Art History at the University of Florida.
List of Illustrations A Note on Names and Translations Introduction Chapter 1. A Lightweight Crucifix in the Age of Evangelization Chapter 2. The Dawn of Miraculous Imagery and the Making of the Cristo Renovado Chapter 3. The Concentration and Circulation of Divine Presence Chapter 4. Pestilence and Politics in Baroque Mexico City Chapter 5. Devotional Entrepreneurship and the Making of a Modern Chapel Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
"Burdette has written a roller-coaster narrative following the fortunes of a maize-paste statue of Christ in Mexico. Created by Indigenous hands and installed in a small church near Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, the once-decayed figure miraculously renovated itself to pristine condition in 1621. Its value led it to be seized by Spanish and Creole elites in Mexico City, who then launched it as a miracle-working celebrity, one that vied with the Virgin of Guadalupe in popularity before a later eclipse. This book is required reading for anyone interested in the mechanisms of colonialism, and for its imbrication with religion and visual culture." - Barbara Mundy, Tulane University, author of The Death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the Life of Mexico City "Employing a singular miraculous object, the Christ of Ixmiquilpan, as a focused lens, Burdette has produced his own wondrous creation: a monograph that exquisitely illuminates the messily entangled realms of unquestioning faith, political authority, ethnic identity, and Catholic dogma in the urban heart of Mexico City. This peripatetic text expertly charts the ever-changing-yet everlasting-Christ of Ixmiquilpan, from its sixteenth-century Indigenous creation, through multiple colonial era renovations, and on to its modern veneration, compelling us to ponder the alluring authority of material "authenticity" in the discipline of art history." - Amara Solari, Penn State University, author of Maya Christian Murals of Early Modern Yucatan
