The Munras Murals
Mission San Miguel Sacristy Wall
A close up of the cracked north wall in the sacristy of Mission San Miguel Learn More
Interior view of Mission San Miguel
A view of the interior of Mission San Miguel from the choir, facing the retablo Learn More
Columns of Mission San Miguel
An example of the columns from the northwall of Mission San Miguel Learn More
The simple, stuccoed exterior of Mission San Miguel Arcángel gives no hint of the exuberant decoration and stenciling that adorns its interior. Completed in 1821, the wall painting in the nave of Mission San Miguel represents the only unrestored example of Spanish Colonial era art in the
The murals at Mission San Miguel Arcángel depict trompe l’oeil classical architectural themes combined with faux fabrics and traditional religious iconography. Painted blue columns line the side walls of Mission San Miguel’s nave, supporting a rose colored entablature and a turned balustrade designed to give the appearance of a gallery. Open spaces between the faux columns contain stylized painted swags of drapery, fan patterns, garlands, and designs imitating carved wood. The ceiling of the nave, one of the most elaborately decorated in the California missions, is composed of carved wood beams with corbelled ends, or vigas, painted in vibrant greens, pinks, blues, and whites. The original pulpit is set against the north wall near the altar, with a domed canopy painted in blue, green, red, yellow, black, gold, and silver.
The focal point of the church, the wood raredos, or altar back, is divided into three parts articulated with marbleized wood columns supporting a bold entablature. The sections shelter carved wood figures, or santos, depicting St. Michael the Archangel, St. Joseph holding an infant Jesus, and St. Francis of Asís. The figures stand against green panels, enclosed by painted floral borders and rosettes. Above the santos, the entablature, brightly painted in greens, pinks, and yellows, supports two large wood cut-outs of carved classical urns with flowers, linked together by more painted floral garlands. The center piece of the raredos is the Moorish all-seeing “eye of God” motif in a perfectly symmetrical cloud, surrounded by stylized rays of light fashioned from carved and painted wood fanning out in all directions
The work in the nave of the church was directed by Esteban Munras, but the stenciled walls in the church sacristy are independent creations of Salinan artisans. The walls of this room, where the priests don their vestments before leading mass, are decorated with a uniform pattern of fruit and foliage, creating an wallpaper effect.
Take a virtual tour of the interior of Mission San Miguel Arcángel.
View Historic American Building Survey Drawings and Photos of Mission San Miguel Arcángel from 1934.
The Artists
Esteban Munras
Salinan Indian converts living at the mission painted the wall frescoes, ceiling, and raredos at Mission San Miguel Arcángel under the direction of Spanish-born artist Esteban Carlos Munras (1798-1850). Munras was a native of
Munras designed a scheme for the murals at Mission San Miguel drawing upon neoclassical, Moorish, and Byzantine influences that were common in mission art in Spanish North America at the time. Some writers speculate that Munras was familiar with the décor of Spanish missions in
Little is known about Munras’s artistic work beyond Mission San Miguel. After settling in
The Salinan Indians
Even less is known about the individual Salinans who painted the murals at Mission San Miguel. In their efforts to further the work of converting the Salinan people to Catholicism and European cultural practices, the Franciscans chose to site Mission San Miguel Arcángel near a large Salinan village called Cholam or Cholami. Between the missions at
The native population at Mission San Miguel peaked in 1814, when more than one thousand neophytes lived at the mission and in the adjacent neophyte village. As was the case with native peoples throughout in the Spanish mission network, the administrative structure at Mission San Miguel largely restricted Salinans to mission lands and strongly pressured them to give up their cultural practices. Salinan learned agriculture, building, ranching, and trades, providing support for both the Salinan peoples and the mission system.
Following
Learn more about the Salinan people in a brief ethnography and history of the Salinan people prepared by the Salinan Tribal Council.
