West Indies Landscape
Mostaert's most famous work is the "West Indies Landscape" (c. 1545), which is believed to be a view of the Zuni pueblos in New Mexico. Having never travelled to the Americas, Mostaert had to imagine what the New World looked like. There was speculation that the artist may have seen sketches of the landscapes but this is unlikely since most pictorial documentation of the times was of exotic animals, tools or costumes, rather than panoramic views. Also, the fanciful cliffs seem to be influenced by Patinir's landscape style rather than authentic renderings. It is believed that Mostaert created the painting based on either written or oral accounts of the newly discovered area to which he would have been privy thanks to his contacts at the court of Margaret of Austria, the aunt of Charles V.
Although the narrative in the painting was thought to depict a number of different events, including Columbus on the island of Goanin, Cortes in Mexico, and the Portuguese invasion of Brazil, it is actually the story of Coronado's search for the seven cities of gold in the Zuni village of Cibola in New Mexico and Arizona in 1540-42.
The best evidence that the picture is based on Coronado's story can be found at the right side of the painting, by the base of the cliffs. On his travels, Coronado was stoned at the entrance to the village by the native Indians. He was rescued by two of his officers who came to his aid and warded off the incoming Indians. Mostaert may have added the event to the landscape to lend it a measure of credibility.
The landscape's terrain, as well as the look of the natives, also matches the descriptions of Pedro de Castaneda, a member of Coronado's team, made during on his travels. According to him, the land was full of cliffs, some with ladders on them reaching to different levels, the people were tall and naked, and their huts were built into the ground and made of straw, the roofs protruding from the ground.
Mostaert devotes only a small section of the painting to Coranado and his men, showing us instead the unity and strength of the native peoples fighting for their land. The painting is one of the earliest depictions of the Europeans' invasions of the Americas and of the "noble savage."
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