The 2019–2020 $60,000 post-doctoral Marilynn Thoma fellowship in art of the Spanish Americas is awarded to Katherine Moore McAllen, Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande, who will produce a book manuscript examining how winemaking in colonial Mexico and Peru helped fund the production of art and the decoration of churches.
Examining this intersection of economic history, art history, and cultural exchange on the Spanish colonial missions, McAllen explains, “I have found that Spanish and indigenous landowners, who owned and operated vineyards, became powerful and influential patrons who actively played a role in the artworks chosen to decorate chapels in Jesuit churches. The Thoma Fellowship will provide me with the crucial time and space I need to finish my research and prepare a monograph.”