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Photo, Print, Drawing Forest of the Valley of San Agustín, and Ruins of an Ancient Shrine of the Indians, Province of Neiva. Provincia de Neiva. Bosque del valle de San Agustín, i ruinas de un antiguo adoratorio de los indios

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About this Item

Title

  • Forest of the Valley of San Agustín, and Ruins of an Ancient Shrine of the Indians, Province of Neiva.

Other Title

  • Provincia de Neiva. Bosque del valle de San Agustín, i ruinas de un antiguo adoratorio de los indios

Summary

  • This watercolor by Manuel María Paz (1820-1902) shows a forest scene in the Province of Neiva (in present day Huila Department, southwest Colombia). The San Agustín Archaeological Park includes some wild, spectacular landscape. It has the largest groups of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in South America and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The works of art are from an Andean culture that thrived between the first and eighth centuries. The watercolor is typical of Paz's work, which captured the diversity of the population of Colombia 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], 1857.

Headings

  • -  Colombia--Huila--San Agustín
  • -  1857
  • -  Expeditions and surveys
  • -  Forests
  • -  Indians of South America
  • -  Indigenous peoples
  • -  Regional Memory of the World Register, Scientific Memory of Andean America
  • -  Ruins
  • -  Trees

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 painting : watercolor ; 23 x 35 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

  • 2021670144

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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The Library asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here.

Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Colombia. Comisión Corográfica Sponsor, and Manuel María Paz. Forest of the Valley of San Agustín, and Ruins of an Ancient Shrine of the Indians, Province of Neiva. Colombia Huila San Agustín, 1857. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670144/.

APA citation style:

Colombia. Comisión Corográfica Sponsor & Paz, M. M. (1857) Forest of the Valley of San Agustín, and Ruins of an Ancient Shrine of the Indians, Province of Neiva. Colombia Huila San Agustín, 1857. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670144/.

MLA citation style:

Colombia. Comisión Corográfica Sponsor, and Manuel María Paz. Forest of the Valley of San Agustín, and Ruins of an Ancient Shrine of the Indians, Province of Neiva. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021670144/>.