Ellie Kane

PhD
Art History

Photo: Ellie  Kane


Female Catholic convents were a literal and metaphorical focal point in viceregal Mexico City. In Conceptionist convents professed nuns were allowed to have and use personal, private money. In New Spain, financial agency, as well as having the privilege to commission art objects, was a power traditionally reserved for men in positions of authority, in both ecclesiastical and secular hierarchies. Understanding the agency these nuns had with their money will allow for a better analysis on the financial role the individual nun could play while still abiding by a vow of poverty, as well as challenge the exclusive trope of the individual male art patron.