An ángel arcabucero is an angel depicted with an arquebus

Arquebus

The arquebus , or "hook tube", is an early muzzle-loaded firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries. The word was originally modeled on the German hakenbüchse; this produced haquebute...

 (an early muzzle-loaded firearm) instead of the traditional sword, dressed in clothing inspired by that of Spanish aristocrats. The style arose in the Viceroyalty of Peru

Viceroyalty of Peru

Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima...

 in the second half of 17th century and was especially prevalent in the Cuzco School

Cuzco School

The Cuzco School was a Roman Catholic artistic tradition based in Cusco, Peru during the Colonial period, in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries...

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In his work Ángeles apócrifos de la América Virreinal (1992), Ramón Mujica Pinilla noted the link between ángeles arcabuceros and certain winged warriors from the pre-Hispanic pantheon. The good reception that these works found among indigenous people of the era may be due in part to the ease with which they could identify these winged warriors with their ancient gods and heroes. According to Kelly Donahue-Wallace, the genre probably originated in the Collao region, near Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Peru and Bolivia. It sits 3,811 m above sea level, making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world...

, and were actually based on Spanish and Dutch engraving

Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

s. Some of these European prints depicted apocrypha

Apocrypha

The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....

l archangel

Archangel

An archangel is an angel of high rank. Archangels are found in a number of religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Michael and Gabriel are recognized as archangels in Judaism and by most Christians. Michael is the only archangel specifically named in the Protestant Bible...

s, condemned by the Church, but apocryphal motifs survived in the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

. Another probable source for the angels' poses, corresponding to the military exercises of the period, were the engravings from the 1607 Exercise in Arms by Jacob de Gheyn II

Jacob de Gheyn II

Jacob de Gheyn II was a Dutch painter and engraver, whose work shows the transition from Northern Mannerism to Dutch realism over the course of his career.-Biography:...

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Calamarca church, about 60 km from La Paz

La Paz

Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...

, Bolivia, contains one of the most complete existing series of ángeles arcabuceros, including the Asiel Timor Dei by Master of Calamarca

Master of Calamarca

Master of Calamarca was a Bolivian artist who created two series of angels painted on the walls of a catholic church in Calamarca, Bolivia . His works were stylistically close to earlier master Leonardo Flores from La Paz Master of Calamarca (fl. first half of 18th century) was a Bolivian artist...

 (around 1680), that are considered definitive examples of the type.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the demand for paintings from all corners of the Viceroyalty grew rapidly. Hundreds of Cusqueño paintings, many of which depicted ángeles arcabuceros, were shipped to Lima

Lima

Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

, Upper Peru

Upper Peru

Upper Peru was the region in the Viceroyalty of Peru, and after 1776, the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, comprising the governorships of Potosí, La Paz, Cochabamba, Los Chiquitos, Moxos and Charcas...

, Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, and northern Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. To satisfy this demand, large artistic workshops, mostly indigenous, were established.

Today, paintings of ángeles arcabuceros are found in Peru, Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, northern Argentina, and in various museums in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. There is also a collection of ten ángeles arcabuceros in the San Francisco de Padua Church in Uquía, located in Argentina's Quebrada de Humahuaca

Quebrada de Humahuaca

The Quebrada de Humahuaca is a narrow mountain valley located in the province of Jujuy in northwest Argentina, north of Buenos Aires . It is about long, oriented north-south, bordered by the Altiplano in the west and north, by the Sub-Andean hills in the east, and by the warm valleys in the...

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