Ekphrastic Moral Mirrors in New Spain: Sor Juana’s Neptuno Alegórico and Sigüenza’s Theatro de Virtudes Políticas
The goal of this paper is to argue that the Neptuno Alegórico and the Theatro de Virtudes Políticas, which were composed in 1680 by the Novohispanic philosophers Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora to accompany respectively two arches erected to celebrate the entry of the Span...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Aperio
2024-05-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Modern Philosophy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jmphil.org/article/id/1919/ |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832575915989663744 |
|---|---|
| author | Sergio Armando Gallegos-Ordorica |
| author_facet | Sergio Armando Gallegos-Ordorica |
| author_sort | Sergio Armando Gallegos-Ordorica |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The goal of this paper is to argue that the Neptuno Alegórico and the Theatro de Virtudes Políticas, which were composed in 1680 by the Novohispanic philosophers Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora to accompany respectively two arches erected to celebrate the entry of the Spanish viceroy to Mexico City, are notable not only as examples of panegyrical Baroque literature but also as philosophical texts aimed at moral instruction. To be specific, I argue that the Neptuno and the Theatro belong to a hybrid genre that I label ekphrastic moral mirrors. Ekphrastic moral mirrors, which constitute a subset of the traditional speculum principis, are characterized by offering moral instruction to a prince indirectly, by means of an elaborate ekphrasis of a work of art (which, in the case of the Neptuno and the Theatro, were the two arches that they were paired with). I also argue that, insofar as the Neptuno and the Theatro create different audiences that are mutually aware of each other in virtue of systematically relying on ekphrasis deployed in a public setting, they are potentially more effective for moral instruction than other traditional mirrors of princes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-660df81c8f3f489485a6ade31814939a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2644-0652 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-05-01 |
| publisher | Aperio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Modern Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj-art-660df81c8f3f489485a6ade31814939a2025-01-31T16:09:04ZengAperioJournal of Modern Philosophy2644-06522024-05-016010.25894/jmp.1919Ekphrastic Moral Mirrors in New Spain: Sor Juana’s Neptuno Alegórico and Sigüenza’s Theatro de Virtudes PolíticasSergio Armando Gallegos-Ordorica0John Jay College of Criminal JusticeThe goal of this paper is to argue that the Neptuno Alegórico and the Theatro de Virtudes Políticas, which were composed in 1680 by the Novohispanic philosophers Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora to accompany respectively two arches erected to celebrate the entry of the Spanish viceroy to Mexico City, are notable not only as examples of panegyrical Baroque literature but also as philosophical texts aimed at moral instruction. To be specific, I argue that the Neptuno and the Theatro belong to a hybrid genre that I label ekphrastic moral mirrors. Ekphrastic moral mirrors, which constitute a subset of the traditional speculum principis, are characterized by offering moral instruction to a prince indirectly, by means of an elaborate ekphrasis of a work of art (which, in the case of the Neptuno and the Theatro, were the two arches that they were paired with). I also argue that, insofar as the Neptuno and the Theatro create different audiences that are mutually aware of each other in virtue of systematically relying on ekphrasis deployed in a public setting, they are potentially more effective for moral instruction than other traditional mirrors of princes.https://jmphil.org/article/id/1919/EkphrasisMoral instructionSor Juana Inés de la CruzNeptuno AlegóricoCarlos de Sigüenza y GóngoraTheatro de Virtudes Políticas |
| spellingShingle | Sergio Armando Gallegos-Ordorica Ekphrastic Moral Mirrors in New Spain: Sor Juana’s Neptuno Alegórico and Sigüenza’s Theatro de Virtudes Políticas Journal of Modern Philosophy Ekphrasis Moral instruction Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Neptuno Alegórico Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora Theatro de Virtudes Políticas |
| title | Ekphrastic Moral Mirrors in New Spain: Sor Juana’s Neptuno Alegórico and Sigüenza’s Theatro de Virtudes Políticas |
| title_full | Ekphrastic Moral Mirrors in New Spain: Sor Juana’s Neptuno Alegórico and Sigüenza’s Theatro de Virtudes Políticas |
| title_fullStr | Ekphrastic Moral Mirrors in New Spain: Sor Juana’s Neptuno Alegórico and Sigüenza’s Theatro de Virtudes Políticas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ekphrastic Moral Mirrors in New Spain: Sor Juana’s Neptuno Alegórico and Sigüenza’s Theatro de Virtudes Políticas |
| title_short | Ekphrastic Moral Mirrors in New Spain: Sor Juana’s Neptuno Alegórico and Sigüenza’s Theatro de Virtudes Políticas |
| title_sort | ekphrastic moral mirrors in new spain sor juana s neptuno alegorico and siguenza s theatro de virtudes politicas |
| topic | Ekphrasis Moral instruction Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Neptuno Alegórico Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora Theatro de Virtudes Políticas |
| url | https://jmphil.org/article/id/1919/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sergioarmandogallegosordorica ekphrasticmoralmirrorsinnewspainsorjuanasneptunoalegoricoandsiguenzastheatrodevirtudespoliticas |