Los restos del Inca: Los funerales de Atahualpa, cuadro de Luis Montero, en la literatura del Perú

Abstract

A large oil canvas, The Funerals of Inca Atahualpa (1867), by Luis Montero, is by far the most widely known and reproduced Peruvian painting of all ages as well as an iconic piece of the national imaginary. In this article, I dwell on the reception history of the painting, focusing on poems and essays spanning most of the twentieth century. It is my contention that two different kinds of creative responses to the painting can be discerned. The first one is framed by an understanding of Peru in terms of the distinction between metropolitan and peripheral societies, whereas the second one brings the painting into a counterpoint with the messianic motif of the return of the Inca as formulated in what historian Alberto Flores Galindo called “Andean Utopia”.