Master of Calamarca, Angel with Arquebus

by DR. ABIGAIL LAPIN DARDASHTI

Master of Calamarca, Archangel with Gun, Asiel Timor Dei, before 1728, oil on canvas and gilding, 160 x 110 cm (Museo Nacional de Arte, La Paz, Bolivia)

Guns, angels and fashion—three unexpected elements that co-exist in the Master of Calamarca’s painting Archangel with Gun, Asiel Timor Dei. Depictions of androgynous, stunningly attired, harquebus (a type of gun) carrying angels were produced from the late seventeenth century through the nineteenth century in the viceroyalty of Peru (a Spanish colonial administrative region which incorporated most of South America, and was governed from the capital of Lima, c. 1534–1820). First appearing in Peru these images were widespread throughout the Andes, in places such as La Paz, Bolivia, and as far as present-day Argentina. Representing celestial, aristocratic, and military beings all at once, these angels were created after the first missionizing period, as Christian missionary orders persistently sought to terminate the practice of pre-Hispanic religions and enforce Catholicism.