The exhibition Visions of Empire: Picturing the Conquest in Colonial Mexico provides, for the first time in the United States, a venue for a group of important historical paintings documenting the conquest of a new territory – the Americas. This exhibition, which also includes selected Aztec artworks, illustrates the presence of a culturally rich pre-conquest society. It was the mixture of European and native cultures that ultimately created the culture we now know as Mexican.

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The following Chapters of Visions of Empire are in PDF format. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files.

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1. Acknowledgments, Jay I. Kislak Foundation Director’s Statement, Introduction

2. The Aztecs and Tenochtitlan on the Eve of Conquest, Traci Ardren, Ph.D.

3. Invasion and Conquest in Mexico, Martha Few, Ph.D.

4. The Image of the “Indian” in Early Modern Europe and Colonial Mexico, Rebecca P. Brienen, Ph.D.

5. Postscript: Reflections on the Conquest of Mexico, Margaret A. Jackson, Ph.D.

6. Jay I. Kislak Foundation, Conquest of Mexico Paintings 1 - 8, Color Plates

7. Exhibit Catalog: Jay I. Kislak Foundation, Conquest of Mexico Paintings 1 - 8

8. Exhibit Catalog: Items 1 - 22

9. Select Bibliography, Endnote