Ángel arcabucero

The good reception that these works found among indigenous people of the era may be due in part to the ease with which they could identify these winged warriors with their ancient gods and heroes.

According to Kelly Donahue-Wallace, the genre probably originated in the Collao region, near Lake Titicaca, and were actually based on Spanish and Dutch engravings.

[3] Church of Calamarca, about 60 km from La Paz, Bolivia, contains the most complete existing series of ángeles arcabuceros, including the Asiel Timor Dei by Master of Calamarca (around 1680),[2] that are considered notable examples of the type.

Hundreds of Cusqueño paintings, many of which depicted ángeles arcabuceros, were shipped to Lima, Upper Peru (Bolivia), Chile, and northern Argentina.

[4] There is also a preserved series of beautiful very ornate and polychromed ángeles arcabuceros sculptures made in the 17th-century Potosí, plundered and now located in the Peyton Wright Gallery (New Mexico, USA).