Photo, Print, Drawing Portrait of a Black Man from Cartago, Province of Cauca. Retrato de un negro de Cartago: Provincia del Cauca
About this Item
Title
- Portrait of a Black Man from Cartago, Province of Cauca.
Other Title
- Retrato de un negro de Cartago: Provincia del Cauca
Summary
- This watercolor by Manuel María Paz (1820-1902) shows a black man in Cartago in what was then the Province of Cauca (present-day Valle del Cauca Department) in southwest Colombia. People of African descent were brought to Colombia by the Spanish as slaves and were an important part of the labor force from the early 16th century onward. Slavery was abolished in Colombia in 1851, two years before Paz made this painting. The watercolor is typical of Paz's work, which captured the diversity of the population of New Granada and depicted the daily activities and traditional customs of the country's different ethnic, racial, and social groups. Paz was born in Almaguer in the province of Cauca. He joined the Colombian army at a young age and showed exceptional skills as a cartographer and painter. In 1853 he took over the role of draftsman of the Comisión Corográfica (Chorographic Commission) formerly held by Henry Price (1819--63). The commission, which began work in 1850, was tasked with studying the geography, cartography, natural resources, natural history, regional culture, and agriculture of the Republic of New Granada (present-day Colombia and Panama). Paz worked under Agustín Codazzi (1793--1859), the Italian-born geographer and engineer who co-founded and directed the commission. In 1859, at Codazzi's death, Paz was among the collaborators who took on the task of reviewing, completing, and publishing the work that the Comisión Corográfica had undertaken since 1850. As a draftsman, Paz executed watercolors and drawings that were very exact and strove to represent the places and people of Colombia in a naturalistic and objective style. These pictures constitute invaluable documentary records for the history and culture of Colombia. They also provided information pertinent to drawing up the maps that were one of the main objectives of the Comisión Corográfica. More than 90 paintings by Paz are preserved at the National Library of Colombia.
Names
- Colombia. Comisión Corográfica Sponsor.
- Paz, Manuel María, 1820-1902 Artist.
Created / Published
- [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1853.
Headings
- - Colombia--Valle del Cauca--Cartago
- - 1853
- - Clothing and dress
- - Expeditions and surveys
- - Group portraits
- - Portraits
- - Regional Memory of the World Register, Scientific Memory of Andean America
- - Street scenes
Notes
- - Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
- - Original resource extent: Watercolor on paper ; 24 x 32 centimeters.
- - Original resource at: National Library of Colombia.
- - Content in Spanish.
- - Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
Medium
- 1 online resource.
Source Collection
- Colección Comisión Corográfica
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2021670057
Online Format
- compressed data
- image