A Stylistic Analysis of the Codex Cozcatzin: Its Implications for the Study of Post Conquest Aztec Manuscripts

Resumen

For many years it has been generally assumed that the Aztec native tradition of manuscript illustration died out soon after the Conquest. The works produced in Mexico City and at the Colegio de Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco exhibit at best isolated elements of the native style. Only the documents produced in Texcoco seem to retain their "Aztecness". One reason for his view stems from the focus on Tlatelolcan works produced under the auspices of the Franciscan Friars. When purely secular documents from this area examined however, a different picture emerges. One such manuscript is the Codex Cozcatzin, currently housed at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. This paper analyzes the Codex Cozcatzin from historical and stylistic perspectives in order to gain insight into its purposes and assemblage and to derive information concerning manuscript production in the Valley of Mexico toward the end of the sixtecnth century.