[Aztlan] pre-Hispanic blue people/ sources and properties of blue

[Carlos Rincón Mautner]

Dear Listeros:

I am very interested in the posting by Sam Edgerton on the use of blue in 
painting, especially for skin and plants. In the pre-Hispanic contexts I 
know that there are ball players with blue extremities depicted on Mural 2 
of Portico 2 at Tepantitla. There are also the blue scorpion people on the 
murals at Cacaxtla. Does anyone know of others?

Sam asked about ideas as to why the Meztitlan Virgin's skin is blue. Is this 
an ascendant Virgin? or Ave Maris Stella? a virgin associated with water 
celestial and/or terrestrial?
Could it be simply that the artist had and excess of blue pigment, so he 
used it liberally?

Blue ranks high in the Mesoamerican color scheme. It is a more "noble" color 
than green, i.e. more stable. The green pigment used in pre-Hispanic and 
early Colonial paintings seems to have a greater tendency to fade and change 
more readily to tan as in the Mixtec codices while blue tends to remain. The 
sources for blue appear to be several leguminous plants. But is it really 
more rare or special?

At Coixtlahuaca, the serpent tendrils lining the archway of the open-air 
chapel are now bleached white, but they may have been colored. However, the 
background is a sky blue... very rare indeed. Does anyone know how expensive 
blue was in comparison to other colors, so that it may have been used more 
sparingly or to exalt the importance of an image as in the case of the 
Virgin?

Also blue skin can be the result of anoxia... a lack of breath.

Among the medicinal properties of "xiuhquilitl" which corresponds to 
different species of Indigofera, Hernández (1571-1576) wrote down analgesic 
and fever breaking properties, and the crushed leaves as promoting the 
healing of wounds. However, in order for the green leaves to turn to blue, 
fermentation must occur. I suppose the skin would turn blue if treated with 
fermented leaves.

I hope my comments are useful and that they will fuel the discussion. Thanks 
and enjoy the day!

Carlos




>From: Sam Edgerton <Samuel.Y.Edgerton at williams.edu>
>To: <@williams.edu>
>Subject: [AZTLAN] Blue Virgin of Metztitlan
>Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:45:26 -0400
>
>Listeros: I'm posting two more URL images, the first (METZ.4) from the 
>16th-century Augustinian convento in Metztitlan: a mural directly adjacent 
>to the Crucifixion with the upside down inscription that we looked at 
>earlier. It depicts the Immaculate Virgin Mary in her  standard pose as was 
>popular all over Catholic Europe at the time, especially in Spain and the 
>American colonies. She is conventional except for one intriguing detail: 
>her skin, as well as her mantle, are colored entirely in blue. Any ideas 
>why?  The mural was certainly done by a Christianized Indian, the same who 
>painted the Trinitarian Crucifixion, accenting the water dripping from 
>Christ's wound and in the baptismal font in the same blue - that and the 
>little bit of red coloring in the dripping blood being the only other 
>colors in the mural besides black and white. It's almost as if he wanted to 
>"syncretize" Christian symbolism and the ancient native belief in the 
>reciprocal relationship between blood and water. Interestingly, in another 
>of the great Augustinian missions in Hidalgo, the convento church at 
>Ixmiquilpan,  the Indian artist who painted the famous set of battle murals 
>there (detail in IXMIQ.jpg) also employed the same hue to color the long 
>tendril that curls through and connects each of the several scenes. In and 
>out of this tendril human breath, blood and even anal wind flows. Flowers 
>bloom from it out of which armed warriors emerge!  Could the blue coloring 
>in these colonial instances signify the still held indigenous belief in a 
>mystical fluid-like "life force,"  TONAL or CHU'LEL , that energizes all 
>life in the universe? And that the Metztitlan artists sensed its source in 
>his new goddess, the Virgin Mary?
>Sam Edgerton
>
>http://lanfiles.williams.edu/~sedgerto/METZTITLAN4.jpg
>http://lanfiles.williams.edu/~sedgerto/IXMIQ.jpg
>
>_______________________________________________
>Aztlan mailing list
>Aztlan at lists.famsi.org
>http://www.famsi.org/mailman/listinfo/aztlan

_________________________________________________________________
Can you find the hidden words?  Take a break and play Seekadoo! 
http://club.live.com/seekadoo.aspx?icid=seek_hotmailtextlink1