tlacuiloliztli (FCbk11f217v)

This iconographic example, featuring a person in the act of applying color to a painting (tlacuiloliztli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from what appears in the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss or text that explains the illustration. This example shows a man with a large white rectangle in front of him, and he holds a brush that he has just started using to paint. He is shown in profile, facing left, but his face is turned toward the viewer in a ¾ view. He wears a long-sleeved, belted, probably white, cotton, tunic, in a style that suggests European influence, as does the shading on his clothing. He has short hair on his head and a short black beard, possibly suggesting he is a mestizo (having both Spanish and Nahua heritage). He appears to have just started making a painting, as the brush appears to move on the paper or canvas. This brush is unique among all the hieroglyphs in this digital collection that show Nahua tlacuilos writing or painting. The normal instrument has the same shape as a digging stick (huictli), but small enough to hold in one hand. This one here is clearly a paintbrush, possibly of the type that the colonizers would have introduced. The man appears poised to paint the matlalin flower in front of him.