Brocateado in the Viceroyalty of Peru: Textile Designs in Painting and Sculpture

Brocateado refers to the painted technique applied across viceregal painting and sculpture, particularly that of South America, to represent patterned brocades, which are fine fabrics woven to create a design using gold- or silver-wrapped thread. Painters imitated brocades by utilizing rich colors and gold leaf or gold paint, generating a dazzling visual effect. This presentation considers how the materials used in the technique are central to our understanding of the images and contemporary viewers’ relationships to them. This lecture will question why painted references to textiles were so common in religious art, why brocateado in particular was popular, and what they teach us about of viceregal visual culture.

Bob and Jean Smith Auditorium. Space is limited; register online in advance. Meadows Museum members: Free. SMU students/faculty/staff: Free. Non-members, Paperless Pass: $10.