The Cathedral of Mexico City

The Cathedral of Mexico City

1850
Artist
Pedro Antonio Gualdi, Italian, 7/22/1808 - 1/4/1857
Born: Italy
Work Locations: Mexico City, Mexico
Active Years: 1838-1857
Country
Mexico
Object
painting
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Accession Number
2013.335
Credit Line
Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer

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.

Dimensions
frame height: 31 7/8 in, 80.9625 cm; frame width: 42 in, 106.6800 cm; frame depth: 2 5/8 in, 6.6675 cm
Inscription
3 labels on verso; signed and dated
Department
Mayer Center, Latin American Art
Collection
Latin American Art

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

Known Provenance
Private collection, Greenville, SC; (Sotheby’s), New York, NY, Sale #5403, lot 15, by November 26, 1985 ; Purchased by Frederick R. [1928-2007] and Jan Mayer, Denver, CO, November 27, 1985; Gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2013 [1] [1] On loan to the Denver Art Museum since 1997
Exhibition History
  • "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