Pedro Marquez' 1804 book contains the first scientific illustrations of Mexican archaeology to be produced in Europe. By depicting the Pyramid at El Tajin with sharp, clean angles and a lack of geographic context, Marquez sought to visually tie it to Greek and Roman temples, thus showing the technological advancement and social sophistication of native Mexican peoples.
This gallery explores the work of artists and explorers in Mexico and Central America between 1804 and 1844. Romantic explorers visually constructed Mexican history, archaeology, and geography in relation to Romantic conceptions of the picturesque landscape. Their depictions were further complicated by the contemporaneous tension between the visual technologies of the panorama and the camera lucida. Consequently, explorers in Mexico were forced to negotiate between the cultural implications of Romantic visualities—of the sublime and of the picturesque—and the values of Romantic exploration and enlightenment, such as encyclopedic recording and faithful representation.
"Throughout my teaching experiences, especially in seminars that have covered the life and works of the Shelleys, Lord Byron, and other writers of the age, reading The Last Man at the end has consistently provided a stimulating and memorable culmination. This is because these pages are filled with familiar material, even if one has not read the novel before. But asking my students to complete such extensive reading at the term’s conclusion invariably felt demanding and onerous.
