Diego Valadés (b. 1533). Rhetorica Christiana. . . [Christian Rhetoric . . . ]. Perugia: Petrumiacobum Petrutium, 1579. Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division (101.00.02)
Explaining Indian Life
The Mexican-born Franciscan friar and artist Diego Valadés worked as a missionary among the Chichimecas in Zacatecas and Durango in Mexico. As a device to facilitate the missionary work of priests and preachers, he wrote, and likely illustrated, the Rhetorica Christiana. The illustrations added a visual element to help missionaries to understand Indian life in the New World.