Coat of Arms of the Gómez de Cervantes y Altamirano de Velasco Family Mexican. Coat of Arms of the Gómez de Cervantes y Altamirano de Velasco Family, ca. 1802. Oil on canvas, 37 1/8 x 28 3/4in. ( x 73cm). Even the wealthiest families in colonial Spanish America were compelled to legitimize their place within the imperial system. Elite individuals could obtain titles directly from the crown after proving noble lineage and so-called limpieza de sangre (“purity of blood”), which in Spain excluded people of Jewish and Moorish heritage. Such titles were proudly displayed through coats of arms
Coat of Arms of the Gómez de Cervantes y Altamirano de Velasco Family Mexican. Coat of Arms of the Gómez de Cervantes y Altamirano de Velasco Family, ca. 1802. Oil on canvas, 37 1/8 x 28 3/4in. ( x 73cm). Even the wealthiest families in colonial Spanish America were compelled to legitimize their place within the imperial system. Elite individuals could obtain titles directly from the crown after proving noble lineage and so-called limpieza de sangre (“purity of blood”), which in Spain excluded people of Jewish and Moorish heritage. Such titles were proudly displayed through coats of arms on portraits, dinner services, coaches, and town-house facades. The commission of this painted, full-scale coat of arms in about 1816—with the central, round Cervantes escutcheon uniting the family's many titles—may have made it unnecessary to include heraldry in contemporary family portraits, which would have hung nearby in the salón del dosel. Incluso las familias más ricas de la Hispanoamérica colonial se veían obligadas a legitimar su lugar en el sistema imperial. Individuos de élite podían obtener títulos directamente de la corona después de demostrar su linaje noble y la llamada “limpieza de sangre” (pureza de sangre), la cual en España excluía a personas de herencia mora o judía. Tales títulos se exhibían orgullosamente en escudos de armas en retratos, servicios de mesa, carrozas y fachadas de residencias urbanas. El encargo de este escudo de armas, pintado en gran formato alredador de 1816—con el blasón central de Cervantes unificando los muchos títulos de la familia—puede haber hecho innecesario el incluir motivos heráldicos en los retratos familiares contemporáneos, los que debían colgar alrededor de él en el salón del dosel. European Art ca. 1802
Size: 1973px × 2534px
Photo credit: © BBM / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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