Spanish Defeat at Tenochtitlan

What it is

This painting, made by the New Spain artist Miguel González around 1696–1715, shows the battle during the siege of Tenochtitlan in June 1521, when Hernán Cortés was nearly captured after a heavy Spanish defeat. A Spanish caption describes the event and the soldiers taken for sacrifice.

Why it matters

This image, part of a larger series on the conquest, reveals how later colonial artists portrayed Cortés's most dangerous moment. It mixes European painting technique with inlaid mother-of-pearl, a style distinctive to New Spain, and reflects how the conquest's violence was remembered and dramatized.

Look closer

• What does the written caption tell you that the image alone does not?
• How does the artist use materials and composition to make the battle feel dramatic?
• Whose perspective does this scene seem to represent — Spanish or indigenous?