Sobre ojos que aún cerrados permiten ver: la representación simbólica del monacato femenino de reglas estrictas en el Barroco novohispano y sus dádivas de honor

Abstract

The text seeks to decode the meaning of the closed eyes used in New Spain portraits of religious women who professed votes under strict orders, especially in the 18th century. With this objective we glimpse the female spirituality Catholicism had during the Baroque period. We explore the monastic culture of the discalced nuns and the reading of them as perfect spiritual life beings. In the center of a stratified society such as the colonial, this concept dispensed inputs for the family honour. Upon this base we locate the paradox where these nuns were allocated by the closed eyes portraits: dead to the world but reproductive of their own social order.

Keywords

• religious art
• female monasticism
• honor
• gender