The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991 Page: 533
692 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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"Escenas de Martirio"
szon San Sabd has a point of view, informed by the conviction that paint-
ing should portray universal ideals. While the canvas may serve as
something of a visual documentary of the massacre, it was intended
primarily to be a work of hagiography, with history being a secondary,
though admittedly important, consideration. This is evidenced by the
prominence of the depiction of Fathers Santiesteban and Terreros and
the attention devoted to their lives. Indeed, the canvas soon gained
fame in Spain as well as in Mexico and served beautifully as a piece of
"contemporary propaganda and . .. current morality.""b The painting
seems to have been celebrated at the time primarily for its ideological
overtones rather than for its aesthetic or documentary qualities. It car-
ried the message that Fathers Santiesteban and Terreros had been mar-
tyred not only in the service of God by barbaric heathens but also in the
service of Spain, since their murderers allegedly had been in league
with Spain's foremost imperial rival, France. Similarly, Death of General
Wolfe captured the British public's budding cultural nationalism and ac-
companying virulent anti-French sentiment, as well as its veneration of
a fallen military leader."4
The San Saba massacre did more than shock the sensibilities of colo-
nial Mexico. The attack on the mission proved to be a crucial incident
in Spain's process of trying to subdue its northern frontier, as this first
armed clash with Comanches led to events that profoundly altered the
entire Spanish philosophy of settlement in Texas. Seventeen months
after the massacre, Colonel Ortiz Parrilla led a punitive expedition
against the tribes responsible for the destruction of the mission. The
Spaniards and their Indian allies met the Comanches and members of
other northern tribes on the Red River at a Taovaya (Wichita) village,
near a place that came to be known, ironically, as "Spanish Fort." Led
by the Taovayas, the Indians charged out from behind protective barri-
cades and fought Ortiz Parrilla's troops to a draw. The Spaniards re-
treated to San Saba, then made their way to San Antonio; this north-
ernmost penetration of the Southwest by a Spanish military force
directed against Indian enemies proved to be a failure."
63 Stroessner, "Destructon oJ Mizson San Sabd," 3. Compositions such as the epic poem of the
Franciscan priest, Father Arroyo, cited in note 21 above, also memorialized the missionaries'
deaths. One appraisal of the painting almost totally discounts this motivation for the work's
creation as well as how it was perceived. Clarence Huff praises the scene as "more authentic
than either Washington Crosszng the Delaware or Washngton at Valley Forge, since it was an 'origi-
nal' painting, not seen through romantic eyes with the passing of time and the perspective
of history, the rehgious aspect of the painting has become of minor importance, it is the histori-
cal event which gives value and significance to the canvas." Clarence Huff Appraisal, Mar. 6,
1982 (copy in possession of author).
64 See Montagna, "Benjamin West's The Death of General Wolfe," 80-81.
65 See Weddle, The San Sabd Mission, 18-i19, 1 20 (quotation), 12 1-128. Coutfirier con-
cludes curiously that Terreros's contributions to the San Sabi project made him a participant in533
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991, periodical, 1991; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101214/m1/611/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.