Lot Essay
Andean depictions of the Holy Trinity as three distinct individuals permitted the teaching of the native populations in the Viceroyalty of Peru about the concept of the trinity, a Christian dogma wherein God is a divine triumvirate--as he is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A divine mystery, the Holy Trinity is more often depicted as God the Father, as an old man; God the Son as the young figure of Jesus Christ; and the Holy Spirit as a dove. The depiction of a dove, according to scholar Teresa Gisbert, would have appeared to the native peoples as sanctioning the worship of animals. Although not adhering to strict Church-sanctioned precepts, images such as this one, were used to propagate the Christian faith in the New World.