I am the unknown artist of this illustration. My name is Luis Pozuelos and I live in the outskirts of Tenochtitlan. My family is not of wealth and I paint in order to provide them with a roof over their head and food. My wife sometimes complains that I am married to my paint brushes and not her, but she knows that I produce wonderful paintings and that alone does not bother her. I have done many projects, little and small, but this specific one is special. I painted it when I had returned home after taking a trip to the Templo Mayor. While in the city, I purchased a woodcut canvas in one of the marketplaces to begin working on “Tenochtitlan.” I thought it would be appropriate to paint a picture of Tenochtitlan and present it to Hernan Cortes as a gift for his conquest of the Aztec empire. I thought that if he liked my painting, I can receive the recognition as an established artist that I wanted. I like to paint using a very basic method but my trademark is detail because I believe detail brings out the focus of the painting. I gathered all my painting material and headed out back to a little hut that I own. This is my work station, where my wife knows not to bother me. I painted this piece of art in 1524 after carefully listing all the characteristics of Tenochtitlan, double-checking that I did not miss any structures or lakes. I wanted to make sure that this painting gave off the feeling that Tenochtitlan is a high society and economically stabilized. I carefully began dividing my canvas into four major parts, adding streams and houses that had been built on top of chinampas. Believe it or not, the layout of Tenochtitlan was created like this on purpose. They wanted to make sure everyone in the city, whether they were poor or wealthy, to interact with one another in the middle of the city. Here, they added the Templo Mayor for political and religious purposes. After adding the causeways that connected Tenochtitlan to the mainland, I began to outline the Templo Mayor. It has been said that Huitzilopochtli, the deity of war, resides at the top of the Templo Mayor alongside Tla Loc, the deity of rain. Once I finished outlining the Templo Mayor, I began to lightly shade the picture. I purposely shaded the borders of Tenochtitlan dark and shaded lighter as I got closer to the Templo Mayor. This gives off the effect that the Templo Mayor is our axis mundi. That is where everyone, including myself and my wife, go to pray to the rain God “Tla Loc” for a good rain season for the crops. I also made sure to paint the artificial gardens of plants that are located outside the border of the Templo Mayor to show that Tenochtitlan is a great city who can support itself by growing a vast amount of crops. Once I was done shading the whole picture, I went over it again but this time I went around the Templo Mayor. I did this to make sure that the Templo Mayor was the whitest, clearest, and brightest item in “Tenochtitlan” because it is the most sacred and cherished place to the people of the city. After spending countless hours in my work station and adding the final touches, I was finished. I stood back from my desk and called my wife over to see the final piece. When she was next to me, we both took in the illustration. I explained to her why I made the Templo Mayor the lightest of all the other structures and why I had shaded the painting the way that I did. I told her that my intention of this painting was to make everyone believe that here, Tenochtitlan, is the place to be. When a ceremony was held at the Templo Mayor, I went in hopes of seeing Cortes and presenting him with my painting. As soon as I arrived, I noticed Cortes sitting on a throne-like chair at the base of the Templo Mayor as a huge crowd formed around him. When I saw the chance, I rushed to Cortes and presented my painting at his feet. He picked it up in curiosity. He un-rolled it and began to scroll up and down with his eyes. He peaked over the top of the painting and gave me a smile. He told me “Who are you and why have you presented me with this painting? I must know your name.” Before I was able to introduce myself, his guards quickly interfered and carried me away. I had missed my only chance of finally receiving the recognition I so much desired. The guards carried me all the way until we reached the end of the crowd and dropped me on the floor. There I sat, filled with emotions that I could not explain. I felt hatred and pain, but also joy. I was able to give my painting to Cortes but now no one will know that it was me who painted it. As I stood up, I looked over at Cortes. He seemed so small that if it wasn’t for his throne-like chair, I would have not seen him. I began to dust myself off as I heard the crowd cheer. I looked up in surprise. There he was, Cortes sitting on his throne-like chair with his hands in the air holding up an object that I could not quite see. I asked the people in front of me if they could see what it was that Cortes was holding up. A gentleman turned around and said “it seems like a painting of Tenochtitlan.” I jumped up and down with excitement as the gentleman looked at me as if I was insane. I told him “thank you” and rushed back home. When I got home, I yelled out to my wife and she rushed over to me. When she appeared, I told her that I had finally done it. I explained to her how I gave my painting to Cortes and how I got kicked out of the ceremony. I then explained how Cortes held up my painting and the crowd cheered; she hugged me with joy. I had done it, and even though my name will possibly never be connected to this painting, I know that my art will get the recognition that I want. The word had spread throughout the town of Tenochtitlan of the painting. In spite of the condition I presented the painting to Cortes, apparently he began to carry my illustration wherever he traveled. This painting was introduced to people who have never been to Tenochtitlan themselves. All the people knew was that this is where the Templo Mayor is located. Consequently, many people began to interpret the painting in various ways. Some people viewed the painting as a tribute to the conquest of Cortes, which was not my intention. Miraculously, others interpreted it the way I intended it to be. They viewed the painting as a tribute to the beauty of Tenochtitlan. They interpreted the water and garden fields as economically prosperous, as well as the causeways. They said the way Tenochtitlan is planned out, water and crops can get from one place to another with ease. They also said that the Templo Mayor was the one structure that stood out to them the most. Besides the fact that it is in the middle of the illustration, they viewed it sociopolitical and cultural beneficial. They knew the importance of the Templo Mayor and expressed how the elite were the ones that ruled the temple. This signified that the elite held all of the power in the city. They also mentioned it as being religiously beneficial because of the people that visited the Templo Mayor to pray to Huitzilopochtli and Tla Loc. When asked why they viewed it as benefiting culture they said that because it is in the center of the city, it allows people from all over the city to interact with one another in a single place. They expressed their knowledge of the marketplaces located at the base of the Templo Mayor and said that this allowed people from different cultures to buy products and food from other cultures. After viewing this image, the people wanted to visit Tenochtitlan because they viewed it as a high-society and economically stabilized. Even though my work will go on with an “unknown” artist, I had finally affected the lives of people. My work has been highly praised and is considered a major part of history. The Inca’s used a similar method when planning the layout of their empire by looking at my painting “Tenochtitlan.” They used a grid-like layout with the center being the city of Cuzco. My painting has provided future generations a precise illustration of the many characteristics that Tenochtitlan has to offer. Although I will not, my work will live on forever.