In November 1680, an arch designed by Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and constructed in the Plaza of Santo Domingo in Mexico City audaciously displayed a central panel depicting the incoming viceroy, Tomás de la Cerda, enthroned on a Mexican eagleand surrounded by ancient Mexica emperors. Sigüenza’s mirror for princes, Teatro de virtudes, curiously and cleverly endows the viceroy with two bodies, one natural and the other immortal and collective. This book explores the centrality of this royal paradigm in understanding Sigüenza’s innovative vision of viceregal governance as a socially unifying force.
