Andean Artists in Colonial Quito: - College of William and Mary

Andean Artists in Colonial Quito
thatched roofs, a tiled roof suggests that Monga was of a higher status.
A second document, dated 1677, declares that Monga is both the seller
of the house and that he is a maestro escultor. 55 This establishes that, as
early as 1677, sixteen years before the Cathedral commission, Monga
was already a capable sculptor who bore the title of maestro.
Additionally, the document indicates that Monga sold his house to
his cousin, Andrés Monga, for one hundred pesos. 56 This house—located in
the parish of San Sebastián—featured a roof covered in tile, with two small
rooms and a patio. 57 Martin Minchom describes the San Sebastián as, “A
dispersed semi-urban parish, mainly divided by a ravine from El Sagrario,
with a low level of upper-class residence.” 58 Because of its tiled roof, this
house suggests that Monga may have been one of the wealthier inhabitants
of San Sebastián. To put this in perspective, Francisco Cantuña—an Andean
master blacksmith and locksmith, a contemporary of Pauca and Monga—
paid 580 pesos for a parcel of land, which Webster cites as “the price of a
city lot with a good two-story, tile-roofed house.” 59 Though Monga may not
have been quite as prolific as Cantuña, it is still significant that he not only
had a house to sell, but was also able to buy his own house early in his career.
A later venta de casa reveals that Juan Monga, the son of Francisco
Monga and María Criolla, and his relatives—including Cristóbal
Monga—sold a house in the elite Cathedral parish (El Sagrario) in
1731. 60 The house is described in the following manner:
the said house is in the neighborhood of the
hospital, in the parish of this the Holy Church of
the Cathedral, that is composed of an upstairs room,
and below it a shop on the corner and behind the
shop a small room with a tile roof, a small patio… 61
Addressing the social status of the houses in Lima, Charles Walker asserts that
a two-story house would have been a mark of great prestige. 62 Walker states,
“Cabildo members came from Lima’s finest families, and many of them had
two-story houses.” 63 Interestingly, this house also had a tienda, or shop, which
Palmer believes to indicate “…the emergence of free enterprise in establishment
of small businesses.” 64 Its presence suggests that Monga or his family members,
as sculptors, may have sold their works there. This document also indicates
that the wealth gained by Francisco Monga as a sculptor remained within the
family. Furthermore, since Webster cites Cristóbal Monga as having received
51