Los filósofos de Huambutío: fuentes textuales e invención

This article examines the origins and literary influences of Los Filósofos de Huambutío, a series of paintings now held at the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad in Cuzco. A hitherto unpublished comparative analysis of images and textual sources demonstrates the influence of the 1802 Spanish edition of Voyages d’Anténor en Grèce et en Asie, by Étienne-François Lantier, on the iconographic program of this group of paintings. The investigation reviews preceding stylistic attributions and proposes a new chronology, highlighting the process of iconographic invention issuing from literary references, in the Andean region, during the 19th century. Finally, the paper examines the historical trajectory of the paintings, offering a reinterpretation of its significance in the context of aesthetic, cultural, and political changes that accompanied the transition from the colonial to the republican period in the Viceroyalty of Peru.