The Tradition of the Cusco School

The Cusco school, or escuela cuzqueña, was a Roman Catholic artistic tradition based in Cusco, Peru, during the Colonial period of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. This movement was not limited to Cusco alone but spread to other cities in the Andes, as well as to present-day Ecuador and Bolivia. Many of these colonial paintings are preserved in Cusco, the town of Calamarca in Bolivia, and in museums located in Brazil, the United States, and England.

The tradition originated after the Spanish conquest of Peru and is considered the first artistic center that systematically taught European artistic techniques in the Americas. The movement evolved through various stages, including the influence of Mannerism and the Baroque style. Over time, the movement became characterized by the increasing activity of Amerindian-Quechua and Mestizo painters, who moved away from predominant European trends to follow their own path.

Artistic Characteristics and Themes

The style of the Cusco school is marked by several distinct technical and thematic elements:

• The use of exclusively religious subjects.
• A lack of perspective and a fragmentation of space into concurrent or compartmentalized scenes.
• A predilection for intense colors, specifically red, yellow, and earth colors.
• The lavish use of gold leaf, particularly in images of the Virgin Mary.
• The inclusion of Andean flora and fauna as backdrops.
• The depiction of Costumbrista subjects, such as the procession of Corpus Christi.
• The appearance of portraits of Amerindian caciques and genealogical or heraldic paintings.
• The motif of warrior angels.

While many works were created anonymously due to Pre-Columbian traditions that defined art as communal, some artists are known, such as Marcos Zapata. The school's output was significant enough that industrial workshops produced canvases in large quantities for merchants to sell in various cities, including Trujillo, Ayacucho, Arequipa, and Lima.