Frank Earle Schoonover

(American, 1877-1972)

The Eyes of the Europeans Glistened (from With Cortes The Conqueror), 1917

oil on canvas

signed Frank E. Schoonover (lower left)

36 1/4 x 27 1/4 in.

Provenance:

The Chester Marron Collection, Christiana, Pennsylvania.

Exhibited:

Wilmington, The Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, "Frank E. Schoonover," October 5 – 28, 1962.

West Chester, Francis Harvey Green Library, West Chester State College, "Illustrations by Frank Schoonover," May 20 – June 30, 1972.

Literature:

Virginia Watson, With Cortes the Conqueror, Philadelphia, 1917, facing 56 (ibid., New York, 1917).

Louise Schoonover Smith, LeeAnn Dean and John R. Schoonover, Frank E. Schoonover: Catalogue Raisonné, Newcastle, 2009, no. 800.

Lot Note:

An illustration for Virginia Watson’s With Cortes the Conqueror (1917), The Eyes of the Europeans Glistened masterfully encapsulates the violent colonization of the Aztec civilization. The scene appears peaceful enough, but the tension is palpable and Schoonover betrays no complacency for the brutality of Cortes’s interactions with indigenous people. In fact, far from attenuating the terror and bloodshed that took place, Schoonover makes plain the colonizers’ dual agenda to amass gold and riches, and to unabashedly convert those they deemed heathens.

The composition of the painting relies on a strong and central vertical line running from top to bottom. The flagpole towering over the gathering is metaphorically extended through the friar’s gaze pointed downward to the abundant fruit exhibited on the indigenous tapestry covering the ground, hinting at the above-mentioned dual agenda. The towering postures of both Cortes and Montezuma may suggest a stand-off, but the power struggle is clearly uneven, with Cortes firmly stepping on the carpet, indicating a move to appropriate the goods presented to him. Montezuma is standing by, closer to the edge of the canvas, not only conveying submission, but also an ominous sense of gradual disappearance.

The Eyes of the Europeans Glistened (from With Cortes The Conqueror), 1917

The Eyes of the Europeans Glistened (from With Cortes The Conqueror), 1917