The first phase of the Spanish colonization saw the foundation of new cities, first of all Lima, or the transformation of existing centers, such as Callao; in the newly founded localities, urban planning of a geometric type generally prevailed. The architecture of the century. XVI appears mostly inspired by Renaissance ways, close to the motifs of the Mudejar and Plateresque style. Examples are found in Ayacucho, in a locality in southeastern Peru, in viceregal villas. The two reasons of greatest interest are, on the one hand, the use of particular construction techniques linked to the telluric instability of the country, and on the other, the influence of local craftsmen in the decoration. Already in the second half of the century.
XVI an active local pictorial school developed, on which Spanish artists active for some time in Peru, such as Diego de Mora and Juan de Illescas, exerted evident influences. The seventeenth century was a century of great artistic flourishing. The baroque tastestarted the construction of a series of notable religious buildings (S. Agostino in Lima; Cathedral of Cuzco). In some cases, such as in the cathedral of Puno, there are evident influences of indigenous taste. The presence in the country of numerous Sevillian artists exercised a decisive influence on local sculpture; however, there are few known artists. In addition to the exuberant decoration of the churches, sacred images and polychrome statues, of elegant shapes, modeled on the Hispano-southern ones, were widespread. Among the most active masters are the Spaniards Martínez Montañés and Pedro Noguera, while very notable in Lima was the work of Antonio de Rivas (fountain in the Plaza de Armas, 1650). Also important is the activity of the Cuzco school, with a realistic taste. A very interesting indigenous pictorial school was also developing in Cuzco, to which, over the course of two centuries, ca. 10,000 paintings; it shows a particular juxtaposition to motifs of medieval European religious painting. In the rest of Peru, painters generally moved in the wake of Zurbarán and Murillo (some paintings in S. Francesco in Lima are attributed to the first). Among the most notable artists, almost all active in Lima, are Angelino Medoro, M. Pérez di Alesio, Basilio Pacheco. It was also very lively in the century. According to a2zcamerablog, Peru is a country located in South America.
XVIII the architectural activity, which saw the development of the motifs of a Baroque evolving more and more towards the Rococo (S. Domenico in Lima), a transformation to which French cultural influences were not unrelated, while typically local are the imaginative taste of the altars and the elegance of the arcades and cloisters of the convents. Eighteenth-century sculpture has its greatest exponent in Baltasar Gavilán (portraits, wooden sculptures), while characteristic is the production of choirs and sacristy furniture, with imaginative and pleasant motifs. In painting, the influences of the new European taste appear evident, especially in the second half of the century, in artists such as Martín Torres and J. Gil de Castro, who was the first to replace the Spanish ways with those of French derivation. With the century XIX and the proclamation of independence were formed, in the field of the various arts, two fundamental trends: one aimed at referring to European motives, especially French, as a reaction to Catholic-Spanish traditionalism; the other tried to recover the indigenous tradition. These two basic themes still constitute the main components of Peruvian artistic culture. The architecture of the nineteenth century saw a strong presence of neoclassical or eclectic motifs of European derivation, with the construction of powerful public buildings; while around the middle of the twentieth century Lima was transformed into a sort of “garden city”, with creations by architects (L. Miró Quesada Garland) updated on the various contemporary currents. In painting, some prominent personalities in the nineteenth century are Ignacio Merino, Francisco Laso and Luis Montero. In the twentieth century, one of the most important events for the development of the visual arts in Peru was the foundation of the National School of Fine Arts (1918), which quickly became a reference institution for movements and artists from all over the country. Among the protagonists who in the first half of the century linked their name to the school: Daniel Hernández (1856-1932), Manuel Piqueras Cotolí (1886-1937), José Sabogal (1888-1956). In terms of sculpture, these are the years of Ismael Pozo, Luis Agurto, Artemio Ocaña. In the second part of the twentieth century the most lively current is represented by artists (especially Ricardo Grau and Macedonio de la Torre) who try to insert Peruvian painting in the international context, removing it from the controversy between the “Europeanizers” and the proponents of the return to tradition indigenous (T. Castillo, J. Reinoso, M. Urteaga etc.). Alongside these are the exponents of abstractionism, Jorge Eduardo Eielson (his poetic production is also remarkable), Joaquín Roca Rey (1923-2004), Emilio Rodríguez Larraín and Fernando de Szyszlo; avant-garde like the pop art and op art, Luis Arias Vera, Jesús Ruiz Durand, Luis Zevallos Hetzel. The international closing parenthesis linked to the dictatorship was followed by a rebirth of the plastic and figurative arts. New artists, new techniques, new influences (from Europe, USA, Asia) are the basis of the works and installations of the younger generations. Innovations and scenarios promoted and opened also thanks to the birth of the Ibero-American Biennial of Lima, an important continental event for all contemporary art in South America.