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The entanglement of empire and mendicant orders remains largely underexplored in art history. In the Americas, the often-violent “spiritual conquest” in the hands of religious groups such as the Franciscans was supported by a Christian millenarian belief system that underpinned colonial endeavors. As Iberian powers expanded into the Americas, so, too, did the Word of God—delivered through the Franciscans, who were among the first to develop technologies of spiritual conversion tailored to imperial ambitions.

The Franciscans’ efforts in the Americas aimed not only to build their legacy through pastoral work among heterogenous Indigenous groups; but to secure their influence within the hegemonic colonial order. While they promoted spiritual education, artistic instruction, and pastoral care, these seemingly benevolent practices often concealed the maintenance and growth of empire. By fostering symbolic ties with Indigenized populations, the Franciscans obscured the realities of cultural erasure and conquest under the guise of innocence and poverty.

This panel explores critical approaches to Franciscan legacies and their intersections with Spanish imperialism. How have painting and print culture—engravings, maps, chronicles, hagiographies—contributed to the enduring image of the order’s innocence? More specifically, how has Franciscan art masked the order’s complicity in colonial violence? Spanning from South America to the U.S. Southwest, this panel expands the range of critical mission studies to propose new approaches to the study of mendicant viceregal art, urging a reevaluation of narratives that have long underplayed its role in colonial expansion.