Familial Religiosity and Images in the Home: Eighteenth-Century Puebla De Los Angeles,Mexico

Abstract

This article examines the connection between religious images and the internali zation of Christian piety among household members in eighteenth-century Puebla de los Angeles. An analysis of notarial documents relating to sixteen prominent families elucidates the relationship between types of religious images, their settings, the spatial distribution, and the participation of the spectator in the process of learning religious values. The interplay between paintings and their frames as well as light and iconographic meanings was absorbed by the people who daily viewed these works. This mechanism became an unconscious reiteration of the values associated with Christianity and an important way in which piety was implanted in young persons.