María Castañeda de la Paz
Investigadora, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Abstract:
One of the most controversial debates related to the Conquest of Mexico surrounds the stance of Moctezuma towards the entry of Cortés, and the oft-questioned peaceful transfer of his empire to the Spanish monarch. This transfer proved useful to Moctezuma’s descendants as they pursued royal privileges throughout the colonial period. Two portraits of Moctezuma, both now in Mexico, are related to this debate. One canvas was painted in the seventeenth century, and X-ray studies have revealed that Moctezuma once held a different pose than the one now visible. The other canvas was painted in the twentieth century to show Moctezuma in the pose that the X-ray study revealed. In my paper, I will offer my analysis of Moctezuma’s position towards Cortés, which will help us understand why Moctezuma’s portrait was repainted to change his pose.
María Castañeda de la Paz is an historian at the Universidad de Sevilla. She did her doctoral studies at Leiden University, and since 2006, has been a researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. In 2018, she was elected as Associated Member of the International Academy of Heraldry for her novel work on indigenous heraldry in New Spain. Her main research involves the prehispanic and colonial indigenous history of central Mexico through an historical and philological analysis of various sources, themes about which she has published various books and numerous articles.