Pyramide de Cholula
Description:
The four-stepped, low-rising Pyramid of Cholula, covered in sparse vegetation, stands in a flat valley, surrounded by distant mountains. A stairway leads up from the base of the pyramid to the small Spanish church on its crest. A herd of cattle cross the near center of the image, walking away from a small city at the far right. Two men, wearing cloaks, hats, and carrying walking sticks, converse in the left foreground. A semi-nude woman sits nearby, in proximity to a small grove of trees.
Copyright:
Copyright 2009, Rare Book Collection, Archives of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Accession Number:
F1219 H90
Printing Context
Pyramide de Cholula was printed for the first time in Humboldt’s Vues des Cordillères: et Monumens des Peuples Indigènes de l’Amérique in 1810. The book was wildly popular in Europe, running to several editions (in a number of languages) throughout the duration of Humboldt’s life.Associated Events
After four years in South America, Alexander von Humboldt arrived in Mexico City from Lima in 1803; he spent a year there devoted to archival research (Pratt 117). His only major archaeological or natural history excursion was to the sites of Cholula (where he produced Pyramide de Cholula) and Xochicalco, a site contemporary to Cholula and located eighty miles from Mexico City.Associated Places
City of CholulaAssociated Texts
Humboldt produced one other view of Cholula in Vues des Cordillères: et Monumens des Peuples Indigènes de l’Amérique (1810).Subject
This image depicts the Pyramid of Cholula, possibly the largest pyramid in the world. Because it was used as a site of construction by generations of rulers—and finally as a site for a Roman Catholic church—the majority of the pyramid remains unexcavated.Significance
This is the only major landscape image Humboldt produced in Mexico. It positions Humboldt as a figure influenced by Enlightenment notions of authentic re-creation and encyclopedic recording of native flora and fauna, while at the same time revealing his concern with Romantic aesthetics of the picturesque landscape (Dettelbach).Function
This is one of a long series of images produced for Vues des Cordillères: et Monumens des Peuples Indigènes de l’Amérique, a study of the peoples, cultural artifacts, geography, and natural history of Latin America, particularly South America. Humboldt’s concern was to give an encyclopedic overview of all the aforementioned topics in his book. Given his short time in Mexico, it is significant that Pyramide de Cholula incorporates a city and artifact of Mexican archaeology, a rendering of the Mexican landscape, and representations of native botanical specimens, many of which were collected by Humboldt.Bibliography
Coe, Michael D. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. 4th ed. London: Thames and Hudson, 1994. Print.Long Title
Vues des Cordillères: et monumens des peuples indigènes de l’AmériqueFeatured in Exhibit:
From the Collection:
Engraver:
Delineator:
Image Date:
1816