Lorenzo Boturini Bernaducci
Encyclopedia
Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci (1702, Como
, Italy
– 1753, Madrid
) was a historian, antiquary and ethnographer of New Spain
, the Spanish Empire's
colonial dominions in North America.
and lived in Trieste
and Vienna
. He was a knight of the Holy Roman Empire
. Forced to flee Austria because of the war with Spain, Boturini arrived in Spain via England and Portugal. In Madrid he met the Condesa de Santibáñez, oldest daughter of the Condesa de Moctezuma. The mother authorized him to collect a pension due her, as a descendant of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II
, from the royal treasury in New Spain.
. He traveled widely and on his travels brought together the largest collection of Mexican antiquities assembled to that time by a European.
Not only did he intend to write the history of the Virgin of Guadalupe, but he also had plans to crown her image with a gold crown. For that purpose he sought donations from the bishops and from the public. This brought him to the attention of the colonial government, which was suspicious of the motives of a foreigner making this proposal.
On June 2, 1743 after an investigation, the recently arrived viceroy, Pedro Cebrián, 5th Count of Fuenclara, had him imprisoned and impounded his collection. He was accused of entering New Spain without license from the Council of the Indies and of introducing papal documents without a royal permit.
. From there he traveled to Madrid
, in miserable conditions. In Madrid he met Mariano Fernández de Echeverría y Veytia, another passionate collector of Indian antiquities. Fernández de Echeverría y Veytia offered Boturini a place to live and financial support, and got the Council of the Indies to reconsider his case. Boturini was absolved. The king named him royal chronicler of the Indies, ordered that his collection be returned to him, and extended an invitation for him to return to New Spain. Boturini, however, declined to return to New Spain, and his collection was never restored. It appears that he was granted recompense and a stipend to work on his projected history of the colony.
In Madrid he wrote a history of ancient Mexico, unpublished at the time of his death in 1753. The library at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is named for him.
The collection was formed between 1735 and 1743, to serve as the basis of a projected Historia de América Septentrional. It consisted of many valuable documents, the majority of them of Indian provenance. Among these were hieroglyphic paintings that had belonged to Juan de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, a descendant of the rulers of Texcoco. Ixtlilxotchitl bequeathed these documents to Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora
.
The collection was confiscated by Viceroy Pedro Cebrián y Agustín at the time of Boturini's arrest in 1743. It was deposited in the office of the secretary of the viceroyalty. The documents were neglected there for years and suffered considerable pilferage.
The subsequent viceroy, Juan Francisco de Güemes, 1st Count of Revillagigedo, granted the historian and antiquary Fernández de Echeverría y Veytia (Boturini's friend from Madrid) the paintings and documents he solicited for his own studies. On Fernández de Echeverría y Veytia's death, they passed to Antonio de León y Gama
. He died in 1802, and the collection passed to his heirs. Shortly thereafter, 16 paintings were obtained by Alexander von Humboldt
during his visit to Mexico in 1802-03. He published them in Vues des cordillères et monuments des peuples indigènes d'Amérique. The originals of these are now in the Berlin State Library
.
Part of the remainder of the collection may have passed to Father José Pichardo, an amateur antiquarian. Joseph Alexis Aubin, beginning in 1827 or shortly thereafter, obtained important parts of the collection from a variety of sources. He sold his collection to Eugène Goupil
, who was of French and Mexican descent. This part of the collection passed by donation or purchase to the National Library in Paris, where it remains, under the name Aubin-Goupil Collection.
Shortly after Mexican independence, the rest of the original collection was transferred to the library of the University, and from there in 1823 to the Conservatory of Antiquities. Later the collection was housed in the National Library. Currently it is in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
Como
Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
– 1753, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
) was a historian, antiquary and ethnographer of New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
, the Spanish Empire's
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
colonial dominions in North America.
Early life
Born in Italy of noble parentage, Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci studied in MilanMilan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and lived in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. He was a knight of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. Forced to flee Austria because of the war with Spain, Boturini arrived in Spain via England and Portugal. In Madrid he met the Condesa de Santibáñez, oldest daughter of the Condesa de Moctezuma. The mother authorized him to collect a pension due her, as a descendant of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II
Moctezuma II
Moctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520...
, from the royal treasury in New Spain.
In New Spain
Boturini went to New Spain in 1736, where he remained eight years. During those years he assembled a vast collection of paintings, maps, manuscripts and native codices. He copied more than 500 pre-Columbian inscriptions and made his own drawings of monuments and sculptures, and he investigated the history of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the hill of TepeyacTepeyac
Tepeyac or the Hill of Tepeyac, historically known by the names "Tepeyacac" and "Tepeaquilla", is located inside Gustavo A. Madero, the northernmost delegación or borough of the Mexican Federal District. It is the site where Saint Juan Diego met the Virgin of Guadalupe in December of 1531, and...
. He traveled widely and on his travels brought together the largest collection of Mexican antiquities assembled to that time by a European.
Not only did he intend to write the history of the Virgin of Guadalupe, but he also had plans to crown her image with a gold crown. For that purpose he sought donations from the bishops and from the public. This brought him to the attention of the colonial government, which was suspicious of the motives of a foreigner making this proposal.
On June 2, 1743 after an investigation, the recently arrived viceroy, Pedro Cebrián, 5th Count of Fuenclara, had him imprisoned and impounded his collection. He was accused of entering New Spain without license from the Council of the Indies and of introducing papal documents without a royal permit.
Vindication
After eight months in prison, Boturini was sent to Spain. He fell into the hands of pirates, who eventually released him at GibraltarGibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
. From there he traveled to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, in miserable conditions. In Madrid he met Mariano Fernández de Echeverría y Veytia, another passionate collector of Indian antiquities. Fernández de Echeverría y Veytia offered Boturini a place to live and financial support, and got the Council of the Indies to reconsider his case. Boturini was absolved. The king named him royal chronicler of the Indies, ordered that his collection be returned to him, and extended an invitation for him to return to New Spain. Boturini, however, declined to return to New Spain, and his collection was never restored. It appears that he was granted recompense and a stipend to work on his projected history of the colony.
In Madrid he wrote a history of ancient Mexico, unpublished at the time of his death in 1753. The library at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is named for him.
The Boturini Collection
Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora
Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora was one of the first great intellectuals born in the Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain. A polymath and writer, he held many colonial government and academic positions.-Early career:...
.
The collection was confiscated by Viceroy Pedro Cebrián y Agustín at the time of Boturini's arrest in 1743. It was deposited in the office of the secretary of the viceroyalty. The documents were neglected there for years and suffered considerable pilferage.
The subsequent viceroy, Juan Francisco de Güemes, 1st Count of Revillagigedo, granted the historian and antiquary Fernández de Echeverría y Veytia (Boturini's friend from Madrid) the paintings and documents he solicited for his own studies. On Fernández de Echeverría y Veytia's death, they passed to Antonio de León y Gama
Antonio de León y Gama
Antonio de León y Gama was a Mexican astronomer, anthropologist and writer. When in 1790 the Aztec calendar stone was discovered, he published an essay about it, Descripción histórica y cronológica de las dos piedras que con ocasión del nuevo empedrado que se está formando en la plaza principal...
. He died in 1802, and the collection passed to his heirs. Shortly thereafter, 16 paintings were obtained by Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
during his visit to Mexico in 1802-03. He published them in Vues des cordillères et monuments des peuples indigènes d'Amérique. The originals of these are now in the Berlin State Library
Berlin State Library
The Berlin State Library is a library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.-Buildings:The State Library runs several premises, three of which are open for users, namely House 1 in Unter den Linden 8, House 2 in Potsdamer Straße 33 and the newspaper archive...
.
Part of the remainder of the collection may have passed to Father José Pichardo, an amateur antiquarian. Joseph Alexis Aubin, beginning in 1827 or shortly thereafter, obtained important parts of the collection from a variety of sources. He sold his collection to Eugène Goupil
Eugène Goupil
Charles Eugène Espidon Goupil was a French Mexican philanthropist and collector.In 1889 he bought Joseph Marius Alexis Aubin's collection of 384 Mesoamerican manuscripts. On May 14, 1864, he married Augustine Élie...
, who was of French and Mexican descent. This part of the collection passed by donation or purchase to the National Library in Paris, where it remains, under the name Aubin-Goupil Collection.
Shortly after Mexican independence, the rest of the original collection was transferred to the library of the University, and from there in 1823 to the Conservatory of Antiquities. Later the collection was housed in the National Library. Currently it is in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
Writings
- Oratio ad Divinam Sapientiam (unedited).
- Idea de una Nueva Historia General de la América Septentrional. Madrid, 1746; Mexico City, 1871.
- Catálogo del Museu Indiano. Mexico City, 1871.
- Historia general de la América Septentrional por el caballero Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci. Madrid, 1948.