Monica Bowen blogs about Colonial Aztec feather paintings.

Bowen writes: "…Europeans also were fascinated with feather paintings, not only for their technical skill, but apparently for their delicacy… it doesn’t seem surprising that the Europeans would be drawn to imagery that reinforces the delicacy and fragility (in other words, the weakness) of the Amerindians. And I think it is especially interesting that the this idea of fragility is not necessarily embodied in the subject matter for the imagery, but in the artistic medium itself."