Illustrating Books

With Cortes the conqueror (1917), by Virginia Watson. The book was illustrated by the great American artist Frank Earle Schoonover (1877-1972). Schoonover studied under Howard Pyle.

Founding of a Nation

The Discovery of Chile by Diego de Almagro (1913) by the Chilean painter Pedro Subercaseaux Errázuriz (1880-1956). This event is sometimes considered as the foundation of Chile. To celebrate it this mural decorates the walls of the former National Congress of Chile in Santiago.

Incredible Treasures

Atahuallpa the imprisoned  emperor of the Incas promised Pizarro and his conquistadors to fill the whole room with gold. An illustration for the book "The Men Who Found America" (1909) by the American artist Herbert Moore. The desperate emperor is here effectively confronted with the sinister, greedy Spanish. Interesting are also the symbolic colors: the golden light and the blood red trousers.

Claiming of a Hero

The surrender of Prince Guatemozin to Hernando Cortes by the  American painter Peter Frederick Rothermel (1817-1895). Rothermel shows here the last decisive vivtory of the Spanish conquistador and claims him as a predecessor of US-American history.
Cortez appears as a merciful forgiving victor. Maybe it should therfore be mentioned that Guatemozin was later tortured and executed.

Bold Americans

Ferdinand de Soto on the banks of the Mississippi by the American artist Herbert Moore (1881-1943). This was an illustration for the book "The Men Who Found America" by Frederick Winthrop Hutchinson (1909).

The Spanish conquistador is looking on the endless waters of the Mississippi, where he should die in 1542. The vastness of the landscape and the river underlines the courage of these men, who went so far in unknown territory. And last not least the Spaniard is here claimed as one of the forefathers of the modern US-Americans.

May be US Cavalry

This is one of my great favorites in respect of Spanish conquitadores. It depicts Francisco Vázquez de Coronado heading north to Arizona and New Mexico and is by the famous American painter Frederic Remington (1861-1909).

With all the dust an the Indian scouts it looks like the US Cavalry on the march, a subject well known to Remington. But I think because he knew soldiers serving there in the desert, he suceeded in making one of the most realistic conquistador paintings.

America's Wilderness

While for example Leutze's "Cortez" seems still a kind of European history painting, this one has already something typical American.

It depicts the Spanish conquistador Ponce de Leon in Florida and is by the American painter Thomas Moran (1837-1926). Moran was a member of the Hudson River School and more a landscape than a history painter. But therefore and because he was deeply impressed by the dense forests of north Florida, he was able to show the forsakenness of this little group of Europeans in that enormous wilderness. This was something that you couldn't learn on the European academies.

Ponce de Leon in Florida (1878)

Cortez in Mexico

Looking for images with conquistadore I found this: The Storming of the Teocalli by Cortez and His Troops (1848)

It's by the German American history painter Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (1816–1868) most famous for his painting Washington crossing the Delaware. Here he's using the same pyramidal composition, which he probably learned studying in Düsseldorf and München.

I don't know what the women are doing in the middle of that carnage. Maybe they should lift the dramatic effect.

To Conquer History

Looking for history paintings illustrating the great past of the nations I discovered that there are almost no Spanish paintings about conquest of Latin America, probably the most heroic adventure of Spanish history. Sure there are some, but they are more illustrations by inferior painters. It seems that Spanish patriots in the 19th century were occupied by other subjects. America was lost and it seemed better to forget this.

Totally different was the situation in the USA. So was the Capitol rotunda in Washington decorated by the "Frieze of American History", a fresco painting which depicts in 19 scenes the great events from American history. Among these images by the Italian-American painter Constantino Brumidi (1805 – 1880) there can be found three Spanish conquistadores.

Cortez and Montezuma at a Mexican Temple

Pizarro going to Peru

Burial of DeSoto

It’s clear. In the late 19th century it was the USA claiming the great conquistadores as her ancestors, while Spain was still mourning the loss of her empire. Finally in 1992 (500 years Columbus) there was in Spain a new 1,000 pesetas bill showing the two conquistadores: Hernán Cortes and, Francisco Pizarro.

La primera misa

Besides the foundation by a Spanish conquistador a popular subject in Latin American historical paintings is the Christianization. It symbolizes the arrival of modern civilization and the importance of Catholicism.

But because of this these paintings are only typical for countries whose leading classes are strongly linked to Europe and are regarding themselves as whites. Normally the painters attended some years European art academies with the result that style and composition resembles a lot European academic painting.

The first divine service in Brasil (1861) by the Brazilian painter Victor Meirelles (1832-1903).

The first divine service in Chile (1904) by the Chilean painter Pedro Subercaseaux Errázuriz (1880-1956).

Foundation

This is one of the typical paintings which can be found in many Latin American public buildings and museums. It depicts the foundation of a town, which means now that of a whole nation.

Here we see the “Foundation of Buenos Aires” (1910). It’s a work by the Spanish painter José Moreno Carbonero (1858-1942) and went as an official present from the Spanish king to Argentina.

Later Moreno Carbonero painted a second version which can be seen in his native city Málaga.

Arrival

The arrival of the Croats at the Adriatic Sea in the early 7th century. Pure fantasy, how the mother is showing her child the new land…

Painting from 1905 by croatian painter Oton Ivekovic (1869-1939).

Foundation

The Foundation of Lima by Francisco Pizarro.

Painting from the peruvian painter Francisco González Gamarra.