The Codex Mexicanus fortifies Lori Boornazian Diel’s reputation as a leading art historian of colonial Mexico. An in-depth study of a postcontact pictorial manuscript from central Mexico, this book artfully combines a catalog of the contents with the author’s own significant analysis. Though intended for a specialist audience, the book also speaks to a broader readership by exploring connections with early modern European history. This book is informed by a variety of interdisciplinary studies, from manuscript studies to art ethnohistorical research. Diel’s analysis of the visual content is impressive and reveals the multivalent nature of the colonial source.
The layout of the book follows from the general themes found in the codex, focusing on time and religion, health, lineage, and history. The first chapter establishes the context in which the manuscript was produced. Approximately sixty years after the Spanish invasion, Nahua creators in Tenochtitlan wrote and illustrated the Mexicanus as...
