UNAM and INAH analyzed the portrait of Sor Juana painted in 1750

The figure of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz transcended the literary field to enter the field of plastic arts, based on the collaboration between specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), who analyzed a portrait of the Hieronymite nun painted by Miguel Cabrera in 1750.

The New Spain poet died on April 17, 1695 in the Cloister of San Jerónimo, located in Mexico City. However, the painting, which measures 2.10 meters high by 1.50 meters wide, was made 55 years after his death. Currently, the work is part of the collection of the National Museum of History (MNH) Castillo de Chapultepec.

According to Salvador Rueda Smither, director of the venue, Miguel Cabrera took as a reference the portrait of the Spanish artist Juan de Miranda, made around 1713. In both works the Tenth Muse is shown around the age of 30.

“Cabrera’s is the iconic portrait of Sor Juana. To do so she must have had the descriptions of the nuns who knew her. The posture in which she is portrayed, seated, with her right hand resting on a book, while the left holds a long rosary, gives her figure an appearance full of spirituality and intelligence,” he explains.

The oil painting by Miguel Cabrera – who in 1751 inspected the ayate with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and made three copies a year later, one of which was sent to Rome for Pope Benedict XII – was subjected to non-invasive techniques, in order to know the materials with which it was made and its elaboration. With this, its physical-chemical state can be evaluated and, consequently, the best decisions for its conservation can be made.

In other words, the study will allow obtaining details such as the direction of the brush strokes, characteristics of the glazes and alterations, as well as the identification of organic substances, pigments and colorants, the type of binder and the preparation base used.

Regarding the preliminary results, the head of the MNH Restoration Department, Elia Botello Miranda, highlighted that they found a series of regrets or regrets.

Among the modifications made by Miguel Cabrera, the adjustment in the size of the inkwell stands out, the correction in the position of the phalanges of Sor Juana’s left hand, with which she achieved a gesture “more gallant than devout”, the variation in the length of the habit and even the modification of the titles of some books in the library in the background. The analysis and processing of the data generated by the research will be carried out in an interdisciplinary seminar lasting three months.

The image of the phoenix

Recognizing not only the work of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, but also her figure, will allow museum visitors to identify the poet in greater depth, beyond associating her face with the 100 peso bills. For many specialists, the Hieronymite nun constitutes one of the fundamental pillars of Mexican literature.

Salvador Calva Carrasco, doctor in Latin American literature and professor at the Metropolitan Autonomous University, pointed out that the writer occupies a prominent place in national poetry. Furthermore, “it now becomes more relevant due to the current situation; that is, due to feminism and the historical review that is being given to all the poets and writers who have been left on the margins, let’s say, of the literary canon,” she commented in an interview with The Day.

He also explained that the Hieronymite nun, “with a strong and consolidated lyrical voice,” begins a long tradition of Mexican poetry written by women. “If we go back to see her work, we will find an impressive number of references to women’s literature,” she added.

He recalled the case of Response to Sister Filotea de la Cruz, text in which Sor Juana lists “extremely enlightened” women, whether they were literary, philosophical or theological figures, with the purpose of defending what she considered an essential right: access to knowledge.

However, that was not the only case in which the Hieronymite nun gave her testimony, since in the letter known as Spiritual self-defense, Addressed to her confessor, the Jesuit Antonio Núñez, the writer complains to the priest for the statements about her vocation: “Didn’t Saint Catherine, Saint Gertrude, my mother Saint Paula study without hindering her high contemplation, nor the fatigue of her foundations, even knowing Greek? Learning Hebrew? (…) So why is it bad for me that was good in all of them? Are only books hindering me to save me?”

The complaints continue, and all of them refer to the treatment given to her for being a woman. Elsewhere he points out that he had to change his handwriting, destroy it, “because they say it looked like a man’s handwriting, and that it was not decent, so they forced me to distort it on purpose.”

For many, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz is a pillar of Mexican literature; However, she can also be considered a precursor to feminism. In his time he defended the freedom to study and write, because he maintained, as he expressed it in the Response to Sister Filotea de la Cruz, that women and men have the same intellectual capacity to do so. Therefore, reviewing his image, his name and his work constitutes a historical and social debt.