Sor Juana statue, calle San Jerónimo, Mexico City

What it is

This is a photograph of a bronze statue of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, shown seated in a chair in a robed form. The photo was taken on 19 July 2010 and uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the user virginiourbina. The statue stands near the San Jerónimo convent in Mexico City, and the photograph shows a white church bell tower and a pale church facade behind it.

Why it matters

Sor Juana lived in the 1600s and was a nun, poet, playwright and thinker. A statue made centuries after her death shows how later Mexicans chose to remember her. Monuments like this one tell us what a society values in a historical figure, which can differ from what that figure's own generation thought of her. The statue is a secondary source: it reflects later memory rather than her life.

Look closer

• What pose and clothing did the sculptor give Sor Juana, and what might those choices say about how she is honored?
• Why might a city place a statue of a historical figure near the place connected to her life?
• What does a photograph from one viewpoint, looking up from below, leave out about the statue and its surroundings?