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Secondary sourcePainting

The First Interview between the Spaniards and the Peruvians

Henry Perronet Briggs

A 19th-century British romantic painting imagining the first meeting between the Spanish and Atahualpa at Cajamarca.

This romantic painting imagines Atahualpa's first encounter with the Spanish, shaping later European memory of the event.

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Painting of a 16th-century encounter: a bare-chested man in a feathered headdress and patterned tunic stands center-left, facing a figure in black robes holding a book. A kneeling man in a red cloak and armoured soldiers stand on the right; a partly undressed woman with a child sits at left, and other figures look on in dim light.
Henry Perronet Briggs, The First Interview between the Spaniards and the Peruvians. National Gallery.

About this source

What it is

This painting by Henry Perronet Briggs, held by the National Gallery, imagines the first encounter between Spanish conquistadors and the Inca at Cajamarca. It shows a feathered, richly dressed figure facing a robed man holding a book, surrounded by armored soldiers and onlookers.

Why it matters

Painted long after the events it depicts, this work shows how 19th-century British artists imagined the dramatic clash between European and Inca civilizations. It reflects European fascination with the conquest of Peru rather than factual documentation, revealing more about 19th-century attitudes than about the historical event itself.

Look closer

  • What details in the painting look exaggerated or invented rather than historically accurate?
  • Why might the artist choose to dress the figures the way he did?
  • What is left out of this dramatic scene that might have actually happened at this historic meeting?

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

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Black-and-white ink line drawing with a bold Spanish caption across the top reading Conquista and Atahualpa, Ciudad de Caxamarca. A robed friar with a cross faces a kneeling Inca man, while a crowd of Spanish soldiers with spears and Andean figures fills the scene.Painting

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A bound manuscript volume lies open in a glass case on a white pedestal, showing two pages with handwritten Spanish text and a pen-and-ink drawing of figures with a Spanish-style scene at left. A numbered tag reading 35 sits beside it. Colorful graphic wall art surrounds the case.Book

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El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno

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Pen-and-ink drawing titled 'Conquista', showing Spanish soldiers in armor and helmets with a seated Inca ruler being executed. A bearded, feathered Spanish figure stands at left; a figure with a cross and sword stands center; a headless body lies on the ground below, with a severed head held at right. Caption text at the bottom is in Spanish.Painting

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Ransom Room

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