Rhetoric and Image in the Yanhuitlán Codex: A Proposed Reading of Some of its Folios

Abstract

The Yanhuitlán Codex is a document produced in the colonial period in the highlands of the Mixtec region (Mixteca alta); it retains pictorial elements from the pre-Hispanic Mixtec tradition but at the same time shows a notable presence of forms and styles introduced from the European world. This article addresses a series of representations related to the postures and gestures of several of the figures found in the codices, which can be explained with reference both to images found in pre-Hispanic documents and the iconographic repertoires comprising the rhetorical figures used for evangelistic purposes.