Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePainting1895

Hernán Cortés takes Moctezuma prisoner

Louis Auguste Turgis · 1895

A late 19th-century painting imagining the moment Hernán Cortés seized Moctezuma, created long after the historical event.

Depicts Moctezuma's capture by Cortés, a defining and tragic turning point in his rule.

Ask Montezuma II about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Painting showing Hernán Cortés seizing Moctezuma, a later imagined depiction of the event.
Louis Auguste Turgis, Hernán Cortés hace prisionero a Moctezuma, 1895. Archivo de la Diputación Provincial de Cáceres, Spain.

About this source

What it is

This 1895 artwork by Louis Auguste Turgis depicts Hernán Cortés capturing the emperor Moctezuma. It is held today by the Archivo de la Diputación Provincial de Cáceres in Spain.

Why it matters

Created centuries after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire, this painting is part of a tradition of European art that dramatized the encounter between Cortés and Moctezuma. It shows how the story of Moctezuma's downfall was retold and reimagined long after his death, shaping how later generations pictured this history.

Look closer

  • What does the composition suggest about who holds power in this scene?
  • Since the artist lived centuries after the event, what sources might he have used to imagine it?
  • How might an Aztec artist have shown this same moment differently?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Montezuma II on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Montezuma II sources

Meet the AI Montezuma II →
A painted page from a colonial Mexican manuscript with a blue-green border column of glyphs on the left. Rows of hilltop place-sign glyphs with Nahuatl labels and small pictorial symbols such as a seated figure, a bird, a shield with arrows, and plants, arranged on pale paper with a footer of writing at the bottom.Document

Secondary source

Codex Mendoza, Folio 15v

Unknown author · 16th century

Black-and-white lithograph titled 'Prision de Motezuma' showing Spanish armored soldiers with helmets and halberds on the left facing a group of Aztec-style figures in feathered headdresses on the right, including a central man in a feathered crown and cloak. A large draped canopy and stone columns frame the scene; a shield lies in the lower right. Printed credits read 'J. Serra lit.', 'Lit. Vidal, Olmo 29' and 'Riera, Editor Barcelona'.Painting

Secondary source

Prisión del emperador Moctezuma

Rafael del Castillo de la Cuesta · 1880

Open bound manuscript on a green cloth, showing two pages of handwritten text in columns with small painted illustrations of fish, a shell, a crab, and shrimp. Page headed 'Libro undecimo'.Book

Secondary source

Florentine Codex

Bernardino de Sahagún with Nahua collaborators · 1569

Woodcut title page of a 1522 Spanish printed letter. A seated, crowned figure holds a scepter in an arched room with checkered floor, flanked by a city scene and a landscape. Below is black-letter Spanish text beginning 'Carta de relación enviada a su S. majestad del emperador nuestro señor por el capitán general de la nueva España, llamado Fernando Cortés', with a handwritten signature at the bottom.Letter

Primary source

Second Letter to Charles V

Hernán Cortés · 1520 (printed 1522)

Black-and-white lithograph titled 'Muerte de Motezuma' showing two figures on a stone terrace of a stepped temple. One figure in a cloak reaches out toward a tall stone wall, while a smaller figure crouches beside him. Smoke rises behind, and a city with towers and palm trees lies in the distance. An arrow lies on the stones.Painting

Secondary source

Recreation of Moctezuma's Death

Rafael del Castillo de la Cuesta · 1880

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Montezuma II now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions