The Art and Architecture of the Texas Missions (Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture (Hardcover))

Winner, Presidio La Bahia Award, Sons of the Republic of Texas Built to bring Christianity and European civilization to the northern frontier of New Spain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries...secularized and left to decay in the nineteenth century...and restored in the twentieth century, the Spanish missions still standing in Texas are really only shadows of their original selves. The mission churches, once beautifully adorned with carvings and sculptures on their façades and furnished inside with elaborate altarpieces and paintings, today only hint at their colonial-era glory through the vestiges of art and architectural decoration that remain. To paint a more complete portrait of the missions as they once were, Jacinto Quirarte here draws on decades of on-site and archival research to offer the most comprehensive reconstruction and description of the original art and architecture of the six remaining Texas missions—San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, San Juan Capistrano, and San Francisco de la Espada in San Antonio and Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo in Goliad. Using church records and other historical accounts, as well as old photographs, drawings, and paintings, Quirarte describes the mission churches and related buildings, their decorated surfaces, and the (now missing) altarpieces, whose iconography he extensively analyzes. He sets his material within the context of the mission era in Texas and the Southwest, so that the book also serves as a general introduction to the Spanish missionary program and to Indian life in Texas.

Built to bring Christianity and European civilization to the northern frontier of New Spain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries . . . secularized and left to decay in the nineteenth century . . . and restored in the twentieth century, the Spanish missions still standing in Texas are really only shadows of their original selves. The mission churches, once beautifully adorned with carvings and sculptures on their façades and furnished inside with elaborate altarpieces and paintings, today only hint at their colonial-era glory through the vestiges of art and architectural decoration that remain.
To paint a more complete portrait of the missions as they once were, Jacinto Quirarte here draws on decades of on-site and archival research to offer the most comprehensive reconstruction and description of the original art and architecture of the six remaining Texas missions--San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, San Juan Capistrano, and San Francisco de la Espada in San Antonio and Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo in Goliad. Using church records and other historical accounts, as well as old photographs, drawings, and paintings, Quirarte describes the mission churches and related buildings, their decorated surfaces, and the (now missing) altarpieces, whose iconography he extensively analyzes. He sets his material within the context of the mission era in Texas and the Southwest, so that the book also serves as a general introduction to the Spanish missionary program and to Indian life in Texas.

Library Journal

As important elements of New Spain's colonial enterprise, Franciscan missions were meant to bring the gospel to the Indians on the northern frontiers and forge them into useful subjects of the Crown. Building upon earlier research for the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park, Quirarte (art history, emeritus, Univ. of Texas, San Antonio) reconstitutes what six extant mission complexes were like from the 1740s to the 1820s. Informative analysis and discussion span the periods when they were constructed, then abandoned, and finally restored or reconstructed. The work draws heavily upon archival records, historic photos (not always crisply reproduced), and drawings. The text recaptures original mission art and architecture, including iconographic schemes, decorations, and the arrangement of sacred images, titular saints, and altarpieces. Appendixes provide a census of Texas missions founded from 1680 to 1793, colonial mission documents and sources, and a glossary of architectural and religious terms. Recommended for academic and regional collections, this book is also of value for its broader historical, religious, and cultural contexts and insights. Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

"Built to bring Christianity and European civilization to the northern frontier of New Spain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ... secularized and left to decay in the nineteenth century ... and rebuilt or restored in the twentieth century, the Spanish missions still standing in Texas are really only shadows of their original selves. The mission churches, once beautifully adorned with carvings and sculptures on their facades and furnished inside with elaborate altarpieces and paintings, today only hint at their colonial-era glory through the vestiges of art and architectural decoration that remain.". "To paint a more complete portrait of the missions as they once were, Jacinto Quirarte here draws on decades of on-site and archival research to offer the most comprehensive reconstruction and description of the original art and architecture of the six remaining Texas missions - San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo, Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion, San Juan Capistrano, and San Francisco de la Espada in San Antonio and Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo in Goliad. Using church records and other historical accounts, as well as old photographs, drawings, and paintings, Quirarte describes the mission churches and related buildings, their decorated surfaces, and the (now missing) altarpieces. Through extensive formal and iconographic analyses of the sculptures and paintings, the uncovers the religious content and meanings that Spanish missionaries sought to convey to their Indian converts.". "Quirarte also describes the gradual decay of the mission buildings following their abandonment in the nineteenth century and tracks the changes they have undergone during subsequent reconstructions. He sets his material within the larger context of the mission era in Texas and the Southwest, so that the book also serves as a good general introduction to the Spanish missionary program and to Indian life in Texas."--BOOK JACKET. To paint a more complete portrait of the missions as they once were, Jacinto Quirarte here draws on decades of on-site and archival research to offer the most comprehensive reconstruction and description of the original art and architecture of the six remaining Texas missions0́4San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), San Jos©♭ y San Miguel de Aguayo, Nuestra Se©łora de la Pur©Ưsima Concepci©đn, San Juan Capistrano, and San Francisco de la Espada in San Antonio and Nuestra Se©łora del Esp©Ưritu Santo in Goliad Describes the art and architecture of the six remaining Spanish missions in Texas as they looked when they were originally constructed in the 1600s and 1700s, discusses the message missionaries were trying to convey through their paintings and sculptures, and follows the decay of the buildings, and their subsequent reconstructions