He learned to appreciate history and art books from a very young age, thanks to his grandfather, Guillermo de Teresa y Teresa, and his father, Dr. Rafael Tovar y Villa Gordoa, his "guardian figures". He said, that his grandfather had taught him to read in the pages of the newspaper... Self-taught by choice (I decided to train on my own (...) I was bored), lived away from universities.[11] At the age of seven he received, from then President
Adolfo López Mateos, "a medal in recognition of his dedication to the study of Mexican history and art." At age 11 he was invited by the historian
Jorge Gurría Lacroix to collaborate in the
National Institute of Anthropology and History.[12] At age 12 he was appointed advisor to President
Díaz Ordaz in matters of colonial art. At 14, he had already given his first lectures at the Institute of Aesthetic Research of the UNAM, and at a very young age he received a distinction from the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid.[13] At 16 he concluded his formal investigation into the history of Tacubaya, years later published as Historical news of the Miguel Hidalgo Delegation.[14]
Genealogy
He was interested in investigating all the branches of his ancestry, passing through some of the largest and oldest families in the
New Spain. In 2012, he submitted a request to succeed in the title of
count of Gustarredondo,[15] which litigated in Spain asking rights of possession. On the death of Guillermo Tovar, his nephew,
Rafael Tovar y López-Portillo, son of
Rafael Tovar y Teresa, director of
Conaculta and grandson of the president
José López-Portillo, requested the subrogation of the rights of his uncle in that title, because he is the firstborn.[16] Guillermo Tovar was a great-grandson of
Margarita López-Portillo y Rojas, in turn the sister of the lawyer, governor of the state of Jalisco, novelist, poet, playwright, journalist and
language scholarJosé López Portillo y Rojas. Guillermo Tovar was also the maternal nephew of the writer
José Bernardo Couto and maternal great-great-grandson of the writer
José Joaquín Pesado.[17]
« There is no sacred art (...) where there has been a liberal reform»
The publisher
Editorial Trama, of
Madrid, is formally the publisher of the Chronicle Council of Mexico City. Some of his publications are the following:
In 2007, he published, together with the Secretariat of Education of the Federal District, the book Ciudad de México: Crónica de sus delegaciones (Mexico City: Chronicle of its delegations). It includes a presentation by Guillermo Tovar de Teresa and, at the end, an article by
Carlos Monsiváis, one of the council members, along with
Jesús Ramírez Cuevas. The climax is from
Salvador Flores.
He published (some co-authored, but most individually) a total of 39 works in 44 volumes, including:[20]
Pintura y escultura del Renacimiento en México (Painting and sculpture of the Renaissance in Mexico) (1979)
Noticias históricas de la Delegación Miguel Hidalgo (Historical news of the Miguel Hidalgo Delegation[14]
México barroco (Baroque Mexico) (1981)
Apuntes y fotografías de México a mediados del siglo XIX – Álbum fotográfico mexicano – 1858– fotografías de
Désiré Charnay (Notes and photographs of Mexico in the mid-19th century – Mexican photo album – 1858– photographs of
Désiré Charnay published by
Julio Michaud Publisher: Celanese mexicana) (1981)
Renacimiento en México: artistas y retablos (Renaissance in Mexico: artists and altarpieces) (1982)
La ciudad de México y la utopía en el siglo XVI (Mexico City and utopia in the 16th century) (1987)
El arte de los Lagarto, iluminadores novohispanos de los siglos XVI y XVII (The art of the Lagarto, New Spanish illuminators of the 16th and 17th centuries) (1988)
Bibliografía novohispana de arte (New Spanish bibliography of art) (two volumes, 1988)
Miguel Cabrera, pintor de cámara de la reina celestial (Miguel Cabrera, chamber painter of the celestial queen) (1985)[6]
Gerónimo de Balbás en la Catedral de México (Gerónimo de Balbás in the Cathedral of Mexico) (1990)
Los escultores mestizos del Barroco novohispano (The mestizo sculptors of the New Spanish Baroque) (1991)
Pintura y escultura en Nueva España (Painting and sculpture in New Spain (1557–1640)) (four volumes, 1992)
La ciudad de los palacios (The city of palaces) Publisher: Vuelta, (1990); prologue by
Enrique Krauze[29]
Arte novohispano (New Spanish art) (three volumes, 1992)
La utopía novohispana del siglo XVI: lo bello, lo verdadero y lo bueno (The 16th-century New Spanish utopia: the beautiful, the true and the good) (1992, in collaboration with
Miguel León-Portilla and
Silvio Zavala)[20]
Repertorio de artistas en México: artes plásticas y decorativas (Directory of artists in Mexico: plastic and decorative arts (three volumes, 1995)
Cartas a
Mariano Otero: 1829–1845 (Letters to Mariano Otero: 1829–1845) (1996)
Catálogo de la colección de
ex libris de Guillermo Tovar de Teresa (Collection catalog of
ex libris by Guillermo Tovar de Teresa) (2002)
La ciudad de los palacios: crónica de un patrimonio perdido (The city of palaces: chronicle of a lost heritage)[20]
La ciudad: un palimpsesto (The city: a
palimpsest) (2004)
El Pegaso o el mundo barroco novohispano en el siglo XVII (The Pegasus or the baroque world of New Spain in the 17th century (1993, reissue 2006)[20]
Crónica de una familia entre dos mundos: los
Ribadeneira en México y España (Chronicle of a family between two worlds: the Ribadeneira in Mexico and Spain) (2009)[20]
Diccionario de artistas del siglo XX (Dictionary of artists of the twentieth century) (the new edition, which would include artists born before 1955, was being prepared)[9]
Editions of the Council of the Chronicle of Mexico City
^Castaños y Cañedo, FJ (2005) . Gustarredondo County: Austria, Spain, Guatemala and Mexico: studies and documents. 1667–2005. Prologues by Fernando Muñoz Altea, José Alberto Saíd; ed., Carlos González Manterola. Institute of Historical and Genealogical Research of Mexico.
ISBN9709719009
^Macmasters, M. (2019). The house of the historian Guillermo Tovar de Teresa can be visited; his file has already been digitized and is available La Jornada , Tuesday, February 12, supplement La Jornada de Enmedio, Culture section, p. 4th (Accessed Tuesday, February 12, 2019)