Landscape Teacher

On Thursday, even though I had to walk part of the way, I finally arrived at the Museum of San Carlos.  The museum is housed in a palace in neoclassical style that was designed by Manuel Tolsá, one of the most important architects of the late colonial period.

The museum is devoted to European works of art from the 14th to the early 20th centuries.  I have written about it numerous times, even though it cannot begin to compare to the great museums of Europe.  Its collection does not contain many of the "big names" of art.  In fact many of the paintings are by rather obscure artists or in some cases by "artist unknown".  However, I return time and time again to this modest museum because they frequently have interesting special exhibits.

There are currently two exhibits at the museum.  The first one is a collection of works by Eugenio Landesio.  Yes, another obscure artist with whom I was completely unfamiliar, and you probably have never heard of him either.  However, his story is rather interesting.

"Self Portrait"

1873

Landesio was born in northern Italy in 1810.  Later his family moved to Rome, and it was there that he studied art.  He gained a reputation as a landscape painter, a genre that was only beginning to gain recognition in the world of painting.

The National Academy of San Carlos, the premier art school in Mexico, was hiring European artists to teach at that institution.  In 1854, Landesio accepted a position at the academy to teach landscape painting and perspective.  When he arrived in Mexico City, he found that the school was lacking in materials.  He himself wrote several textbooks to use in his classes.

After teaching at the academy for two decades and influencing an entire generation of future Mexican landscape painters, Landesio was later relegated to oblivion.  During the French intervention in Mexico, he had worked for Emperor Maximilian von Habsburg, and after the ill-fated emperor's downfall, Landesio refused to sign a document supporting the restored republic.  He eventually returned to Rome where he died in 1870.

It was only in recent decades that art historians began studying his paintings and his influence on Mexican art.  This exhibition, organized by the San Carlos Museum, the Secretariat of Culture and the National Institute of Fine Arts is a part of that reevaluation of Landesio's importance.  It gathers together works from 25 public and private collections.  I love landscape painting, so for me this was a very interesting show.

The exhibit begins with some of Landesio's works painted in Italy before he came to Mexico.

"Vallinfreda" 1839

(Vallinfreda is a town outside of Rome.)

  

"View of Rome from the Villa Freborn" 1853

"The Apennines and Sub-Apennines" 1853

(The Apennines are a mountain range running down the peninsula of Italy.)

"The Virgin Water of Trevi"  undated

"Roman Countryside"  undated

"View of the Aqueduct" 1833

(attributed to Landesio)

"Landscape of Rome"  undated

"Roman Landscape" 1845

"A Great Oak Trunk" 1844

"St. Paul and St. Anthony the Abbot, the First Hermits"  1844

"St. John on the Island of Patmos"  1844

These last two paintings were purchased by the Academy of San Carlos and were instrumental in the decision to hire Landesio as a profesor at the academy.

More from this exhibit in the next post...