Portrait of Simón Bolívar in Lima, 1825. José Gil de Castro.
Salón Elíptico del Congreso Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela.

The “great liberator,” Simón Bolivar (1783-1830) was a famed soldier, commander and political leader. Across Perú and New Granada, he led rebel armies, fighting to end Spanish rule, and his victories were crucial in establishing independence for the regions that would become Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. This portrait by José Gil de Castro depicts the hero in Lima—it is one of several Gil painted of Bolívar.

The iconography of the painting, with the rebel leader posed in the manner of military and political leaders across Europe, makes it clear that the visual conventions of portraiture in Spanish America owed much to prototypes from across the Atlantic. For instance, Gil has used Neoclassical color schemes and long-standing traditions of portraiture—including the three-quarters pose and turned out foot. It may seem surprising that in depicting the standard bearer of liberation and independence, Gil upheld such conventions. Yet the visual rhetoric of political portraiture was strongly patterned, and to take one’s place as a great leader—even as liberator of colonies—one had to appear able to master that language, no matter that its origins were European.

The painter Gil de Castro was a mulatto, and his signature appears in the lower left corner of the painting, “En Lima, por Gil” (In Lima, by Gil). Known for his portraits of high society, Gil was active in the independence movement, spending time as a topographer for the army and accompanying the rebels into Santiago and Lima. Soon after their victories, Gil became, “Primer Pintor del Gobierno de Perú” (First Painter of the Peruvian Nation). Among his creations were uniforms for the newly independent army and portraits of the Revolutionary heroes. These portraits had both public and private lives; this one, for example, was sent to Bolívar’s sister in Caracas.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ades, Dawn. 1989. Art in Latin America: The Modern Era, 1820-1980. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.

Boulton, Alfredo. 1964. Los retratos de Bolívar. Caracas: Editorial Arte.

Mariátegui Oliva, Ricardo. 1981. José Gil de Castro ("el mulato Gil"): vida y obra del gran pintor peruano de los libertadores: obras existentes en Argentina y Chile. Lima, Perú.

	Lima: (Spanish) The capital city of the Viceroyalty of Perú. back to text
	Mulatto: (Spanish) A multi-racial person of African descent. In Spanish America, according to the proscribed definition of the casta system, mulattos had one parent of African descent and one of European; in practice, peopled labeled as mulattos could have indigenous and multi-racial parents and/or ancestors. back to text
	Neoclassical: (English) An artistic style that sought to capture the restraint and geometry of the art of ancient Greek and Rome. Neoclassicism dominated the visual high arts from the late 18th century into the 19th in Spanish America. back to text
	New Granada: (English) An independent kingdom established in 1717, carved out of the Viceroyalty of Perú . It embraced much of the modern nation of Colombia, as well parts of Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama and the Caribbean. Its capital city was Santa Fé de Bogotá. back to text
	Perú: (Spanish) The name Spain gave to her southern Viceroyalty. The Viceroyalty of Perú stretched across Panama and most of South America, with the exception of Venezuela, which was part of New Spain, and coastal Brazil, which was held by the Portuguese. The capital city of the viceroyalty was Lima. back to text
	Spanish America: (English) The areas of the New World under Spanish control. From the 16th to 18th centuries, Spanish America comprised most of South America (except Portuguese-held Brazil), the Caribbean, Central America, and southern and western North America. back to text

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