Mama Ocllo, First Coya

This portrait series depicts the dynastic rulers of the Inca empire arranged in rows of lineal succession. These were sometimes accompanied by portraits of the Spanish conquistadors and viceroys – a display that falsely suggested the peaceful and logical succession to Spanish rule and played to European expectations of conquest. Inca ruler portraits also played upon the nostalgia of pre-Hispanic Andean culture, though the adornments worn by the rulers were based on Spanish speculation of what Inca regalia looked like. The tradition of painting Inca ruler portraits began in the late sixteenth century and continued well into the nineteenth century, when they were often painted as copies of previous Inca ruler portrait series.