30 May 2025 / 10 House
Article suitable for Top Juniors and above
Find out moreWhat would Cuauhtémoc have looked like?
ORIGINAL QUESTION received from - and thanks to - Daria: I’ve been thinking of creating a miniature of Cuauhtémoc, since I’ve been fascinated by the tragic fate of the Aztec empire since school days. But the more I looked for reference pictures and description of what he might look like, the more I understood that the information is too diverse and I would never be able to collect a single and accurate image. I’m not sure where the reality ends and fiction steps in... I would be really grateful if you could point me in the right direction for accurate references on what Cuauhtemoc might have looked like after he became Aztec emperor. (Answered by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
We can sympathise! You’re right, there are no ‘accurate’ portraits of this Mexica tlatoani (speaker or ruler), so we have to look for clues in codices, sculptures and the reports of Spanish chroniclers... Whilst we know exactly what his name and emblem was (‘Descending Eagle’ - follow link below...) and the year he reigned (1520-1521), getting a good idea of his appearance is far harder. Perhaps the simplest reference might be the splendid statue of Cuauhtémoc (in fact the monument is dedicated to both Cuitlahuac and Cuauhtémoc) on the wide avenue Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City (pic 1).
There are representations of him in several codices, including the Primeros Memoriales, Telleriano-Remensis, Techialoyan García Granados, Vaticano A... probably the best, from your point of view, would be one in the Florentine Codex (Book 12), where he is shown standing next to Mayehuatzin, governor of Cuitláhuac, both discussing the defense of Tlatelolco (pic 2).
He also features in several historical paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries, on display in the Museo Nacional de Historia, Museo Nacional de Arte, Palacio Nacional and Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. The second link below will take you to a website with a reproduction of the realistic-looking depiction Rendición de Cuauhtémoc a Cortés (Surrender of Cuauhtémoc to Cortés), painted in 1893 by Joaquín Ramírez.
Good luck with your sculpture - let us know how it turns out...!
Picture sources:-
• Pic 1: Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore
• Pic 2: Image from the Florentine Codex (original in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence) scanned from our own copy of the Club Internacional del Libro 3-volume facsimile edition, Madrid, 1994.
Comments (1)
Tecpatl
20th Dec 2019
I happen to have a question about Cuauhtemoc: we all know the Spanish treated him in a very cruel way, burning his hands and feet in order to get him to reveal where the stashes of gold were hidden. How long did they torture him? When did Cortes order Alderette to stop? Im writing a story about Cortes expedition to Honduras from Cuauhtemoc’s point of view and I wanted to limit fiction as much as possible. Many thanks if you can help me.
Mexicolore
We don’t know. He was tortured in 1521 after his capture, and then hanged in 1525. We think ‘only’ his feet were burned, that he bore the pain ‘unflinchingly’, that he remained a cripple until his death, and that he admitted he had thrown treasure into Lake Texcoco four days before his capture - but the Spaniards found nothing at the spot indicated by Cuauhtemoc. Cortés doesn’t directly mention the torture and Bernal Díaz seems to excuse Cortés, claiming that the latter was ‘much distressed that they should torture a Prince like Guatemoc [sic] for greed of gold’, and that it was other captains, with the authorisation of the treasurer Julian de Alderete, who proceeded with the torture.
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