Resumo

PEREZ CARDENAS, Irma Yolanda. Art and Power, the Weapons of Mariano Riva Palacio, a 19th Century Mexican Nationalist Patron of the Arts. Estud. hist. mod. contemp. Mex [online]. 2022, n.63, pp.65-90.  Epub 24-Mar-2023. ISSN 0185-2620.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iih.24485004e.2022.63.77699.

Mariano Riva Palacio was an important patron of the arts during the second half of the 19th Century in Mexico. When in power he patronized public monuments to the heroes of Mexico’s Independence, emblazoned with rhetorical mottos that exalted a nationalist sentiment, in accordance with the need to legitimize and consolidate the Restored Republic governments. In this article, I will only refer to some of the most important works, without going into the iconographic or processual analysis. By researching documents, mainly from Riva Palacio’s personal archive, I only intend to show the personage’s political intentions and the origins of the public visual images of the heroes of the then new Mexico’s civic pantheon.

Palavras-chave : patron; public sculptures; Independence heroes; political rhetoric; nationalism; identity.