Mesoamerican Maya Blue and the Baroque Period
The clay-dye composite known as 'Maya Blue' originated in Mesoamerica as early as the third century CE. This Mesoamerican pigment was invented by the indigenous cultures of modern-day Mexico and Central America. It was used in later centuries for brilliant blue church and convent frescos and much earlier in indigenous wall paintings, sculpture, and human sacrifice rituals until the pigment was exploited and exported like most other resources during the Spanish conquest of the 16th Century.
Archaeologists have been long since fascinated with the bright blue-green pigment for its resiliency and chromatic quality. Not only is the color uniquely vibrant but it in some applications has lasted in intensity for 1-2 thousand years. The quintessential Maya blue is sourced from the añil indigo plant named "ch'oj" in Mayan. Indigo plants were readily used for dye not paint and known to fade in the sun, when dried into a powder created a turquoise color. It was later discovered that the Mayans mixed the indigo powder with "copal" burned tree resin and a rare white clay known as "attapulgite" creating its bright blue tone. The combination is visually stunning and results in a complex chemistry that outlasts any other ancient pigment. Normally harsh weather, hot sun, and humid temperatures quickly deteriorate any pigment and particles of painted surfaces. It wasn't until the 1960s that scientists discovered the chemical compounds that were responsible for its unique durability.
The creation of Maya blue could have been accidental during the ceremonial burning of incense and while combining sacred ingredients to honor the Mayan deity, "Chaak" the pigment was found.
The incense was offered to the rain god Chaak, who responded with the gift of Maya blue, a symbol of water. This gift was then, in its turn used to anoint the precious offerings (including humans) offered back to the god by being thrown into the sacred well.
In the 16th Century, a bishop named Diego de Landra Calderøn in colonial Mexico wrote a first-hand account of Maya blue being used in a ritual of human sacrifice to cover the skin of the victims and painted ceremoniously on the altar on which they were offered. Around that time Spanish colonialists were plundering any and all Mesoamerican natural resources and this pigment made its way into the Baroque period of European art as a substitute for the Afghanistani Lapiz Lazul. The Spanish Baroque movement influenced the 16th-century Franciscan church painters of Yucatan. Maya blue murals can be found in a similar ornate style by the Mexican artist, Villalpondo who painted the ceiling of a major cathedral in Puebla, Mexico in 1688. Frescos can still be found in their Maya blue state in the "Temple of the Warriors" of the Chichén Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula dating back 1600 years.
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In the 16th Century, a bishop named Diego de Landra Calderøn in colonial Mexico wrote a first-hand account of Maya blue being used in a ritual of human sacrifice to cover the skin of the victims and painted ceremoniously on the altar on which they were offered. Around that time Spanish colonialists were plundering any and all Mesoamerican natural resources and this pigment made its way into the Baroque period of European art as a substitute for the Afghanistani Lapiz Lazul. The Spanish Baroque movement influenced the 16th-century Franciscan church painters of Yucatan. Maya blue murals can be found in a similar ornate style by the Mexican artist, Villalpondo who painted the ceiling of a major cathedral in Puebla, Mexico in 1688. Frescos can still be found in their Maya blue state in the "Temple of the Warriors" of the Chichén Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula dating back 1600 years.
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