RETABLO. DEATH

Death. Year: 1984. Dimensions: Open: 23 x 63 x 8 cm / Closed: 26 x 31 x 8 cm. This retablo shows a sequence that runs from the left door to the right. On the left side a peasant house appears; in the central box, a scene of work in a cornfield is depicted. In the sky, green red-headed parrots fly — in this and many other retablos, these symbolize the military because of the color of their plumage. One can see the arrest of a peasant by a group of soldiers dressed as Franciscans. These soldiers take him away to a certain death, which Edilberto Jiménez foreshadows in the second scene, which depicts him wearing the clothing put on the deceased. The third time he appears, on the right door, the detainee's body lies dead, thrown into an abyss in which there are also other bodies in the process of decomposition and human bones. One might assume that the Franciscan habits would signify the destruction of a non-Catholic Quechua world in the context of the extirpation of idolatries in the 16th and 17th centuries, but it is not immediately clear why Edilberto Jiménez chose to portray the Sinchis in Franciscan habits. The answer lies in the process of creating the retablo rather than in the finished work. While Edilberto was making this retablo, a military raid occurred in Huamanga, and soldiers entered his home. The figures were not yet complete, though they already bore signs — such as boots — indicating they were soldiers. The Sinchis, in uniform and armed, forced the artist to continue working. The fear and tension of those moments were transmitted directly into the work, as Edilberto — in order not to risk his life — chose to disguise the soldiers as Franciscans, explaining that the scene depicted the Inquisition.