The Cathedral of Mexico City
- Pedro Antonio Gualdi, Italian, 7/22/1808 - 1/4/1857
- Born: Italy
- Work Locations: Mexico City, Mexico
- Active Years: 1838-1857
Pedro Antonio Gualdi, The Cathedral of Mexico City, 1850. Oil paint on canvas; 31⅞ x 42 x 2⅝ in. Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 2013.335.
Pietro (Pedro) Gualdi was born in Carpi, Italy, and studied at the Academy of Arts in Milan. He moved to Mexico in 1835, where he designed theater sets, made engravings used as illustrations for various publications, and produced architectural renderings and paintings. He was a professor of perspective drawing and architectural rendering at the prestigious Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City from 1850 until he moved to New Orleans in 1852, where he worked as an architect and artist until his death in 1857.
This large painting by Gualdi complements a smaller one by him already in the Denver Art Museum’s collection depicting the opposite view (looking east) of the main plaza of Mexico City (1956.72). The smaller painting was executed in 1847 and captures the invasion of Mexico by American troops and depicts the American flag flying over the Viceregal Palace. This much larger example was painted in 1850, after the end of hostilities, and looks toward the west, showing the early Baroque facade of the colonial Cathedral of Mexico and the late Baroque facades of the attached parish church (sagrario). The detailed rendering of the architecture reflects Gualdi’s architectural training and experience.
– revised by Kathryn Santner, Frederick and Jan Mayer Fellow of Spanish Colonial Art, 2023
- "Heaven and Earth: The Jan and Frederick Mayer Collection of Spanish Colonial Art from the Denver Art Museum, Jun 16-Oct 8, 2006, Museo de las Americas, Denver
- “ReVision: Art in the Americas” — Denver Art Museum, 10/24/2021 – 7/17/2022
- ReVision: Art in the Americas, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN, 7/1/23 - 9/17/23