Cusco School Painting of A Madonna and Child

The Cusco School came about alongside the Spanish conquest of Peru in the 1530’s and lasted through the 18th Century.

As a means of converting the newly subdued Incas to Catholicism, the Spanish came to rely on religious artwork that intertwined Catholic themes with indigenous iconography.

Though this type of painting was what the Spanish had in mind when they taught the indigenous artists how to paint with oils, the natives took their skills in new directions.

In the process, they came to be referred to as The Cusco School for their unique, distinctly Cusqueña, style and choice of subject matter.

Influenced by their European teachers, this group of trained indigenous and mestizo artists tended to paint exclusively religious figures, but in rich and dramatic colors, flat on the page, and often with the native flora and fauna somewhere in the backdrop.

Gold leaf overlays and tooling were common as were floral borders, while the Virgin Mary, archangels, and saints were usually the stars of their paintings.