Peruvian nature up close, seen from afar

Author(s): DANIELA BLEICHMAR

Source: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, No. 59/60 (spring/autumn 2011), pp. 60-73
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology
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60 RES 59/60 SPRING/AUTUMN 2011

Figure 8. Unknown artist, Yndio Yquito, ca. 1789-1790. Watercolor, 6Va x 41/3 in. (17 x 11 cm). Museo de
América, Madrid. Photo: Museo de América, Madrid.

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 Peruvian nature up close, seen from afar
DANIELA BLEICHMAR

This essay analyzes a remarkable and little known through his diocese. His traveling led Lequanda to write
demographic and economic summaries of various regions
eighteenth-century painting, Quadro de Historia Natural,
Civil y Geográfica del Reyno del Perú (Painting of the of the province, which he published between 1792 and
Natural, Civil, and Geographical History of the Kingdom1794 in a Lima journal, the Mercurio Peruano.2
of Peru). The work is examined in relation to several Lequanda formed part of a lively circle of enlightened
administrators and intellectuals deeply concerned with
visual and textual traditions of the time, proposing that
the Quadro del Peru functions not only as a painting butthe relationship between the economic and political
also as a book, a collection, and a box. This approach well-being of the viceroyalty, on the one hand, and
allows us to consider the painting not only as an its natural resources, commerce, and industry, on the
aesthetic object, but also as a document that embodies,
other. For these men, acquiring a deep knowledge of
contains, and transports information. This was the the kingdom's natural history was a first step towards
a successful economy and political administration. In
painting's main function at the time it was created, based
on an examination of the context in which it was made 1794 Lequanda wrote a treatise entitled Idea sucinta
and viewed and of its links to other closely related works del comercio del Perú y medios de prosperarlo (Concise
from the period. Looking at the painting from these Notion of Trade in Peru and the Means to Improve It), in
multiple perspectives demonstrates the ways in which which he summarized the state of Peruvian commerce
images served to constitute American nature and to over the previous five years.3 In 1796 he composed a
convey it across distances through figure and word. significant portion of viceroy Francisco Gil deTaboada
y Lemus's (r. 1790-1796) memoir of his administration.4
At the end of that year Lequanda returned to Spain,
The Quadro del Perú as pictorial encyclopedia
having lived more than half of his life in Peru: He was
The Quadro del Perú (fig. 1 ) is signed by an artist twenty-one years old when he arrived to America and
with a French surname, LuisThiebaut, who dates it forty-nine when he left. Back in Europe, Lequanda seems
as completed in Madrid in 1799.1 While nothing is to have spent the next year or so traveling in Spain and
known about this artist, we know much more about France, where he visited the natural history cabinets
the man who commissioned the work, José Ignacio in Madrid and Paris. In March 1798 the Council of the
Lequanda (1747-1800). Born in the Basque city of Indies granted him the post of contador mayor (chief
Biscay, Lequanda traveled to Peru in 1768 as a young accountant or comptroller) in the Lima Tribunal de
man accompanying his uncle, Baltasar Jaime Martinez
Compañón, who would go on to become the bishop of
the Peruvian province of Truj i lio and later archbishop of
Santa Fe de Bogotá, in the viceroyalty of New Granada. 2. "Descripción corográfica de la provincia de Chachapoyas,"
Lequanda lived in Peru for twenty-eight years, becoming Mercurio Peruano V, no. 165 (Lima, August 2, 1792); "Descripción
part of the kingdom's administrative and intellectual geográfica de la ciudad y partido deTrujillo," Mercurio PeruanoVIII,
élite. He held various positions in the viceregal financial no. 247 (Lima, May 16, 1793); "Descripción geográfica del partido
de Piura perteneciente a la intendencia deTrujillo," Mercurio Peruano
administration, serving as accountant and treasurer in the
VIII, no. 263 (Lima, July 11,1793); "Descripción del partido de Saña
cities of Lima, Huamanga, and Trujillo. Between 1782 o Lambayeque," Mercurio Peruano IX, no. 285 (Lima, September
and 1785 Lequanda accompanied Martínez Compañón, 26, 1793); "Descripción geográfica del partido de Caxamarca, en la
by then bishop of Trujillo, on his visita (official tour) intendencia de Trujillo," Mercurio Peruano X, no. 333 (Lima, March 13,
1794).
3. José Ignacio Lequanda, Idea sucinta del comercio del Perú y
medios de prosperarlo con una noticia general de sus producciones
(1794; Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 1977).
1. El Quadro del Perú (1799). Una joya ilustrada del Museo 4. Guillermo Lohmann Villena, Las relaciones de los virreyes del
Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, ed. Fermín del Pino (Madrid, Perú (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 1959), and
forthcoming); and Francisco de las Barras de Aragón, "Una historia Carlos Deustua Pimentel, "José Ignacio de Lecuanda y la memoria
del Perú contenida en un cuadro al óleo de 1799," Boletín de la Real del virrey Gil deTaboada y Lemos," Mercurio Peruano, no. 436
Sociedad Española de Historia Natural XI (Madrid, 1911 ):224-285. (1963):276.

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62 RES 59/60 SPRING/AUTUMN 2011

Figure 1. LuisThiebaut (n.d.), Quadro de Historia Natural, Civil y Geográfica del Reyno del Perú, 1799. Oil on panel,
(325 by 115 cm). Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid. Photo: Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Ma

Cuentas (Royal Auditing Agency). Lequanda never Given the spatial organization of the visual material,
managed to take this position: He died in Madrid in
there is no single definitive viewing or reading. The
1800, the year after presenting the Quadro del Perú as
painting can be explored in multiple directions: from
a gift to the Head Secretariat of the Indies Treasury—top to bottom or bottom to top, from left to right
probably as a gesture of gratitude for his new position.5
or right to left, and from the perimeter towards the
The painting is a testament to Lequanda's lengthy stay
center or centrifugally. There is, however, a distinct
and detailed knowledge of Peru, to his interest in thecentral vertical axis that divides the composition in
kingdom's political economy, and to his administrativetwo symmetrical halves, left and right. This axis is
experience and ambitions. Painted in Madrid for a composed of geographic and textual material, and its
peninsular audience, it functions as a microcosm of
center is the focal point from which the various sections
the viceroyalty of Peru, encapsulating in miniature anof the painting irradiate and around which they are
encyclopedic overview that connects the kingdom's organized. The very center of the painting is dedicated
to a geographical map of Peru and a view of the mine
territory, natural history, economy, population, social
order, and human history. The painting has no singleHualgayoc or Chota, in this way indicating that mining
overall composition but rather distinct complementary is of central importance not only to the kingdom's
sections, all of which are in turn mosaics of smaller economy but also to its natural, civil, and geographica
figures. The Quadro del Peru brings together a collection history. As a treasury official, Lequanda was intimately
of 214 individual images, and for this reason demands to
concerned with the state of mining, which represented
be observed part by part, as if the viewer were reading an important source of revenue for the viceroyalty.
a written work chapter by chapter or moving through Fora this reason, the panorama of Peruvian nature that
collection room by room.6 he presented to the Indies Treasury revolved around
the kingdom's mines. The choice to depict this mine
in particular points to the close relationship between
Lequanda and his uncle Martínez Compañón, who
5. I owe my biography and bibliography on Lequanda to Victor proposed a renovation project for it in 1 786 to viceroy
Peralta Ruiz, "El virreinato peruano y los textos de José Ignacio Teodoro
de de Croix (r. 1784-1790)—a plan to which
Lequanda," in El Quadro del Perú (see note 1). Lequanda may have contributed.
6. Detailed descriptions of the painting are provided in Juan Javier
The great majority of the painting's miniatures—158
Rivera Andía, "La utilidad de las cosas. Apuntes sobre la organización
visual interna del Cuadro," and Rita Borderías Tejada, "Visiones out of the total 214—depict plants and animals. The m
iconográficas del Quadro," in El Quadro del Perú (see note 1). and mine views are surrounded on either side by two

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 Bleichmar: Peruvian nature up close, seen from afar 63

Figure 2. "Civilized nations" (detail), from Luis Thiebaut (n.d.), Quadro de Historia Natural, Civil y Geográfica del Reyno del Perú,
1799. Oil on panel, 128 x 45V4 in. (325 by 115 cm). Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid.

Figure 3. "Savage nations" (detail), from LuisThiebaut (n.d.), Quadro de Historia Natural, Civil y Geográfica del Reyno del Perú,
1799. Oil on panel, 128 x 45Va in. (325 by 115 cm). Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid.

large compartments containing aquatic animals. Stacked uses, commercial value, or ethnographic interest, and
neatly below them are two cells featuring amphibious the information given about animals is also highly
creatures such as the iguana, alligator, sea wolf, and anthropocentric. This is a lay natural history, providing
river wolf. To either side of this vertical column there are vernacular names and information, unconcerned with
thirty small compartments with images of quadrupeds Latin names or Linnaean taxonomy. In other words, this
and plants, organized into a grid of six columns by five is not the totalizing vision of Linnaean natural history,
rows. The canvas's perimeter consists of eighty-eight which sought to survey the flora and fauna of a region
cells showing images of birds and plants and four corner comprehensively, detailing all the species found in Peru.
compartments featuring insects, which serve as a frame Rather, it provides a selection of entries based on local
to the painting. The work thus addresses Peruvian natural experience, emphasizing the kingdom's biotic wealth
history part by part. Moving from the center of the through sheer volume and focusing on humans, plants,
canvas outward, the mineral kingdom forms the core of and animals whose interest lies in their curiosity or their
the composition, surrounded in turn by water-dwelling utility, two key criteria for early modern collections.
creatures, amphibians, land-based quadrupeds and Toward the top of the painting, a row of images
plants, and finally birds and plants at the outer edge. traverses the entire length of the canvas horizontally,
Although most compartments in the painting contain presenting thirty-two human types. Each occupies a
depictions of an animal and a plant together, no separate space demarcated by columns on either side
environmental relationship is suggested between them, and is shown alone, unlike the rest of the specimens in
nor is there an attempt to indicate their size, present the painting which share a compartment. The sixteen
them at an accurate scale, or represent their habitat. figures on the left are designated "civilized nations,"
There is certain interest in grouping animals by type—for and the sixteen on the right are called "savage nations"
example, the top row of compartments on both the left (figs. 2-3). Although half of the figures on each side are
and right sides showcases monkeys—but no rigorous male and half female, the civilized nations depict eight
attempt at classification. While most of the painting's types of couples but the savage nations do not follow a
specimens are indigenous to Peru, some are not, as is the strict pairing. Through these multiple human types, the
case with the lemur, which is native to the African island painting suggests the rich racial and social diversity of
of Madagascar.7 The plants depicted have medicinal viceregal society without attempting a full taxonomy. The
focus on the presence of multiple human racial types,
the choice to depict sixteen figures on each side, and the
7. Barras de Aragon (see note 1), p. 224, fn. 1. localist agenda that relates the kingdom's inhabitants to

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 64 RES 59/60 SPRING/AUTUMN 2011

its natural and human history are reminiscent of casta The Quadro del Perú as a book
paintings. This is particularly the case for those casta
The Quadro del Perú matches its pictorial abundance
paintings that feature and label fruits and vegetables,
with an extraordinary loquacity: it presents an
as well as for those that gather multiple images in a
encyclopedic vision of Peru not only through a great
single canvas with various compartments, such as Luis
number of individual images, but also through an
de Mena's painting of about 1750. Although the genre
impressive amount of text. In this collection of images,
was predominantly Mexican, in 1770 Manuel de Amat
the written word has a starring role. The top portion of
y Juniet, Viceroy of Peru, commissioned a series of
the painting's central axis is occupied by a dedication
Peruvian types to send to Madrid's Royal Natural History
and a preliminary address, inscribed with black ink
Cabinet.8 However, unlike casta paintings, the Quadro
on a white background either byThiebaut or by a
del Perú does not focus on racial mixing, nor does it
scribe. Below this heading, a band of text—also in
feature any peninsular Spaniards, as if none was present
black ink on a white background—forms a textual belt
in Peru or they did not form part of the history of the
around the central elements of painting. The top row,
kingdom. This omission is particularly striking given
immediately underneath the human types, is divided
that Lequanda specifies in writing that the kingdom is
into ten compartments, each addressing a different
populated by Spaniards, Amerindians, blacks, and the
mixtures thereof. topic. Together, they narrate the history of Peru from
The "civilized nations" on the left side of the the founding of the Inca empire to the late eighteenth
century, indicating notable events, assessing the state of
painting include different Amerindian populations,
commerce and mining, describing the temperament of
African and American blacks, mulatos, and criollos.
its inhabitants, and providing individual accounts of the
The various Amerindian tribes characterized as "savage
intendancies of Truj i lio, Lima, Arequipa, Tarma, Puno,
nations" are depicted as noble savages: They may not
Guancavelica, and Guamanga. The vertical column on
have adopted Christianity, but they are not the bestial
the right addresses the intendancy of Cuzco, while the
cannibals represented in sixteenth-century European
vertical column on the left and the bottom row present
depictions of New World inhabitants.9 They are shown
information about each of the birds and plants illustrated
carrying babies, holding hunting or fishing instruments,
in the outer frame of the painting. The two columns
or accompanied by friendly animals. Their depiction
of text on either side of the image of the mine address
is benign, even for a tribe characterized as ruthless
the importance of mining to the Peruvian economy,
anthropophagous warriors who not only eat the flesh
of their enemies but also wear their victims' shrunken listing all the active mines in Peru at the time as well
as their annual productivity and economic yield, and
hearts around their necks as jewelry. Any trace of
recommending reforms of the labor organization. The
conflict, suspicion, or disquiet among the populations of
map and the view of the mine include text glossing the
Peru has been erased. The human types placed within a
information that they present, and the remaining 212
colonnade appear as a collection of exemplary statues
figures in the paintings are accompanied by a cell below
in their niches, resembling specimens or artifacts in a
each figure with an inscription describing the image, as
museum display. The Quadro del Perú should therefore
in a caption.
not be seen solely as a single painting, but rather as a
There is a staggering number of words in this painting:
collection that brings together hundreds of individual
Everything that looks like white space when the Quadro
vignettes of the Peruvian natural world.
del Peru is examined at a distance or seen in a small
reproduction is in fact occupied by such abundant
annotation that the text's transcription extends over
8. On casta paintings, see liona Katzew, Casta Painting. Images sixty single-spaced pages printed in a small type size.10
of Race in Eighteenth-Century Mexico (New Haven: Yale University Indeed, the text is so voluminous and its relationship to
Press, 2004). This book reproduces Mena's painting on p. 195. On the
the visual material so tight that this work functions not
Peruvian casta series, see Los cuadros de mestizaje del virrey Amat.
La representación etnográfica en el Perú colonial, ed. Natalia Majluf.
only as a painting, and perhaps not even primarily as a
Exh. cat. (Lima: Museo de Arte de Lima, 2000); and Frutas y castas
ilustradas, ed. Pilar Romero de Tejada (Madrid: Museo Nacional de
Antropología, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, 2004).
9. Jean-Raul Duviols, Le miroir du nouveau monde: images 10. See Barras de Aragon (note 1) and Fermín del Pino and José M.
primitives de l'Amérique (Paris: Presses de l'Université Raris-Sorbonne, Loring, "Edición crítica del texto del Quadro," in El Quadro del Perú
2006). (note 1).

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 Bleichmar: Peruvian nature up close, seen from afar 65

painting, but rather as an illustrated manuscript, albeit The connection between Lequanda's painted natural
one of a peculiar format, written in miniature on a single history treatise and Ruiz and Pavón's publication is
magnum canvas page and with oversized illustrations. particularly revealing. The Spanish botanists visited
The interpretation of this painting as a book is invited Peru when Lequanda was there, and while there is no
not only by the presence, volume, and importance evidence that the three men were in contact, Ruiz and
of text, but also by the fact that many of its elements Pavón did meet many members of the viceroyalty's
come from the world of books, not paintings. It is administrative, scientific, and literary elite. Their book
thanks to textual inscriptions that we know the names would have been available to both Lequanda and
of the artist, the patron who commissioned the work, Thiebaut, since it appeared in Madrid shortly after
and the institution to which he dedicated it. All this Lequanda returned to Spain and a year before the artist
information is inscribed in the painting itself. These signed the Quadro del Perú. Furthermore, Ruiz and
elements—title, dedication, and preliminary discourse Pavón's voyage is but one part of a much larger effort to
or preface—come directly from the conventions of early mobilize natural history information and specimens from
modern books, whether printed or manuscript. They every corner of the empire to Madrid, spurred by new
would have been familiar to any eighteenth-century peninsular institutions like the Royal Botanical Garden (f.
reader, including Lequanda and the administrators at the 1755) and Royal Natural History Cabinet (f. 1771).
Indies Treasury to whom he dedicated the Quadro del Casimiro Gómez Ortega directed the botanical
Perú. According to early modern textual conventions, it garden between 1772 and 1801. During that period,
was usual for a written work to include a dedication to he intensively pursued its acquisition of botanical
a patron or important figure, as well as a preface with specimens from the New World as well as information
details about the work. These formal elements are part about them. In addition to helping organize Ruiz and
of what the literary critic Gérard Genette has termed Pavón's voyage to Chile and Peru, he also facilitated the
"paratext," the apparatus that surrounds and supports botanical expeditions to New Granada (1783-1816) and
a text, transforming it into a book.11 In this case, the New Spain (1787-1803); put in place the botanical team
text surrounds the visual material, turning images into that participated in the circumnavigation expedition led
content and the painting into an illustrated book. by naval officer Alejandro Malaspina (1789-1794); and
These structural elements can be linked not only corresponded with botanists throughout the peninsula
to bookish culture in general, but more specifically to and the empire, requesting and receiving specimens,
natural history publications of the time. For example, drawings, and written descriptions.12 Thus, Lequanda's
Spanish botanist Casimiro Gómez Ortega (1741-1818) presentation to the Indies Treasury of a work that
published his survey of Spanish plants, Flora española transported Peruvian nature to Madrid through visual
(Madrid, 1791 ), only eight years before Thiebaut finished image and text reflects his awareness of the widespread
the Quadro del Perú. The book opens with a page that interest in this type of information in learned and
indicates its title, followed by a dedication offering the administrative circles in the peninsula.
work to King Charles IV. The subtitle advertises that One of the first entries in Ruiz and Pavón's Flora
this is a "collection of plants" consisting of icones et Peruviana et Chilensis is the Acosta, a Peruvian species
descriptiones—that is, both images and text. Like the that the travelers named in honor of José de Acosta
Quadro del Perú, this botanical book accumulates (1539-1600), widely known as the "Pliny of the New
natural history specimens through both text and World." This Spanish Jesuit missionary lived and traveled
image, as was preferred in eighteenth-century natural through Peru and New Spain between 1571 and 1587
history. That is also the case with the Flora Peruviana et and published the most influential early natural history
Chilensis, subtitled "descriptions and images of Peruvian of the New World, Historia natural y moral de las Indias
and Chilean plants," published by Spanish botanists (Seville, 1590). By connecting their own investigation of
Hipólito Ruiz (1754-1816) and José Pavón (1754-1840) Peruvian nature to Acosta's, Ruiz and Pavón inscribed
in Madrid in 1798 based on their eleven-year scientific
voyage through this American region from 1777 to 1 788.
12. Francisco José Puerto Sarmiento, Ciencia de cámara. Casimiro
Gómez Ortega (1741-1818), el científico cortesano (Madrid: Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1992); Daniela Bleichmar,
Visible Empire: Botanical Expeditions and Visual Culture in the
11. Gérard Genette, Fhratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation (New Hispanic Enlightenment (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
York: Cambridge University Press, 1997). forthcoming).

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66 RES 59/60 SPRING/AUTUMN 2011

themselves within a venerable tradition of exploring "Physical Geography"—that is, mountains, rivers, and
American nature going back two centuries. The Quadro
coastlines. Geography, and more specifically mineralog
del Perú also sought to be part of this tradition of natural
is at the center of the painting and the center of the
story: "Our purpose," the dedication states, "is to conv
history treatises. Its full title, Painting of the Natural,
Civil, and Ceographical History of the Kingdom of Peru,the state of mining in Peru." The second part presents
alludes to Acosta, and through him to Pliny's Historia"several establishments that men have created and the
naturalis. political divisions into which they have partitioned the
By the end of the eighteenth century, the allusionland."
to It details the number of inhabitants in each region
Pliny in the title of a natural history treatise had become
of Peru as well as the natural products that exist there
so commonplace as to be practically mandatory, not that can be used in the industries and for commerce.
only in Spain but throughout Europe, and particularly The third part focuses on natural history, providing
for American natural histories. Thus, the second edition
images of "the rare animals of this part of America."
of the Spanish Jesuit José de Gumilla's treatise on Although much of the text is presented as statements of
the Orinoco region modified the book's original title fact in the third person, Lequanda asserts his authorship
to standardize it according to the Plinian formula, by mentioning details that would be familiar only to
changing it from El Orinoco ilustrado y defendido. someone who had lived in the region, by alluding to his
Historia natural, civil y geográfica de este gran río ywritings
de in the Lima journal Mercurio Peruano and by
sus caudalosas vertientes (Madrid, 1 745) to Historia resorting to the use of the first-person singular in some of
natural, civil y geográfica de las naciones situadasthe enentries, referring to his autoptic experience through
las riveras del río Orinoco (Barcelona, 1791). One statements
of such as "I have seen this."13 Lequanda
many possible examples that document this tradition compiled this information over many years, partly
outside the Spanish Americas is Irish physician Patrick through his own observations of Peru and partly through
Browne's Civil and Natural History of Jamaica (London, his readings of other works about the region. He was
1756). The book's second edition appeared in London in
also familiar with at least some European natural history
1789, almost exactly two hundred years after Acosta and
publications, since he refers to the Natural History by
not long before Thiebaut completed his work. Like the Georges-Louis Leclerc, count of Buffon (1707-1 788) on
painting of Peru, the illustrations in Browne's book focus
three occasions.14 In this way, the Quadro del Perú works
as a double collection: It presents to its viewer a visual
on the curious and the useful, and the title page promises
a "large and accurate map," exactly like the one atcompilation
the of hundreds of figures illustrating Peruvian
center of the painting of Peru. natural and human history, as it acquaints its reader
This genre of natural history treatises was, like with a textual anthology that gathers information about
the Quadro del Perú, encyclopedic in its approach,multiple aspects of the kingdom.
covering a multitude of topics in an attempt to provide
a comprehensive picture of the territory. The extended
The Quadro del Perú as a collection and a box
title of Acosta's Historia natural promises "noteworthy
things in the heavens, and elements, metals, plants, The painting invites a dissecting gaze, one that
and animals of the Indies, and the rites, ceremonies, registers its multiple parts one by one, separating and
laws, and government, and wars of the Indians." The excising each for examination on its own. While both
encyclopedic approach was still pervasive two hundred the sections and the individual figures in this work are
years later: Browne's book addresses, in Part I, "An related, they do not form a single composition but rather
accurate Description of the Island, its Situation, and present a collection of images. Each figure is framed
Soil; with a brief Account of its former and present by State,
a rectangular outline, enclosed in a compartment
Government, Revenues, Produce, and Trade"; followed that separates the different elements in the work. There
by Part II, "An History of the Natural Productions, is a relationship of proximity among the various parts,
including the various Sorts of native Fossils; Perfect but it is not made explicit. Rather, while the multiple
and Imperfect Vegetables; Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes,
Reptiles, and Insects; with their Properties and Uses in
Mechanics, Diet, and Physic."
13. Entries on "mono chauca," "mono dominico," "pinza o
Much like Browne's book, the painting's preliminary predicador," and "pájaro de cinco colores," in Barras de Aragón (see
discourse reveals'the work's encyclopedic aim and note 1), pp. 260, 261, 270, 282.
describes it as divided into parts. The first part displays14. ibid., pp. 253, 261, 269.

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 Bleichmar: Peruvian nature up close, seen from afar 67

figures are complementary, they can stand alone. It a relationship with a royal peninsular institution.16 This
is particularly fitting that the painting functions as a practice provided a direct model for Lequanda's painting,
large collection, given that it is the result of a process of a collection of natural history images and information
collecting itself—of texts, as I have mentioned, and also that he offered to the imperial office that employed him.
of images. Since Thiebaut signed the painting in Madrid It is also worth noting the close relationship between
and there is no evidence that he ever traveled to the natural history collections and the fine arts. Madrid's
Americas, he must have based the hundreds of figures in natural history cabinet held not only specimens but also
the Quadro del Perú on existing sources that Lequanda drawings, prints, and paintings. The cabinet occupied
gathered and made available to him in Spain. the top floor of the same building that housed in its
The Quadro del Perú not only results from a collection ground floor a recently created Royal Academy of Fine
but also functions as one. Its material is organized Arts of San Fernando (f. 1744). An inscription above the
according to the principles that informed collections of entrance indicated the close connection between the
the time, particularly those dedicated to natural history. study of nature and the production of art, proclaiming
Eighteenth-century natural history cabinets functioned "King Charles III united nature and art under one roof
as spaces for storing and viewing, where drawers, boxes, for public utility." Painting and collecting natural history
and compartments gathered together multiple objects went hand in hand.
in a single place, allowing for both abundance and a Madrid's natural history cabinet furnished Lequanda
gridded organization. Like the Quadro del Perú, natural not only with the opportunity to translate his personal
history cabinets brought together minerals, insects, experience with American nature into a patronage
animal specimens, and dried plants, appealing to both opportunity, but also with material for the painting itself.
information and aesthetic pleasure, and combining His familiarity with the cabinet provides an explanation
curiosity with a sense of order. for the otherwise mysterious presence of the lemur, an
Lequanda was well aware of the popularity and African primate, among the Peruvjan species depicted
importance of natural history cabinets in Europe. In in the Quadro del Perú: The collection possessed a
several of the Quadro del Peru's entries on quadrupeds, preserved specimen, which likely provided Thiebaut
he mentions having seen preserved samples in the with a model. The cabinet also may have served as
natural history cabinets in Madrid and Paris. The the source forThiebaut's image of the anteater, since it
founding of Madrid's Royal Natural History Cabinet in held the preserved specimen of one that King Charles
1771 and its opening to the public in 1776 had helped III had received as a gift from Argentina in 1 776. It
popularize the study and collecting of natural specimens. also possessed an oil portrait of the animal painted
The cabinet's director, the Ecuadorian criollo Pedro around that time, which was in turn the source of an
Franco Dávila, saw in the far-flung Spanish territories engraving published by the cabinet's full-time painter
an opportunity to increase the collection's holdings of and engraver Juan Bautista Brú de Ramón (1740-1799).17
rare and exotic items. He distributed printed instructions The anteater's multiple incarnations as a collectible—
requesting materials from contributors throughout live creature, preserved specimen, painted portrait,
the empire. The cabinet asked not only for natural engraving, and then miniature painting in the Quadro
specimens, but also ethnographic objects, receiving, del Perú—attests to the great curiosity that such rare
for instance, Peruvian antiquities from Lequanda's American species awoke for metropolitan audiences.
uncle Martínez Compañón—a comingling of natural The arrival in Madrid of myriad specimens from
and human history that is also evident in the Quadro throughout the empire remind us that boxes served not
del Peru.15 Through participation in networks of gift only to organize European natural history cabinets, but
giving, credit, and patronage, contributors to the cabinet also to transport objects from distant places to these
used their access to non-European natural and man
made artifacts to gain the social prestige bestowed by
16. As was the case for collectors and naturalists in North America.
See Susan Scott Rarrish, American Curiosity: Cultures of Natural History
15. LisaTrever and Joanne Pillsbury, "The Collections of Northern in the Colonial British Atlantic World (Chapel Hill: University of North
Peruvian Natural History and Antiquities in Martínez Compañón's Carolina Press, 2006).
Illustrated 'Museum' (1780s)," in Collecting Across Cultures: Material 17. Juan Bautista Bru de Ramón, Colección de láminas que
Exchanges in the Early Modern Atlantic World, ed. Daniela Bleichmar representan los animales y monstruos del Real Gabinete de Historia
and Peter C. Mancall (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Natural de Madrid con una descripción individual de cada uno, 2 vols.
2011), pp. 236-253. (Madrid, 1784-1786).

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68 RES 59/60 SPRING/AUTUMN 2011

collections. Drawings, writings, artifacts, and specimens

traveled in sacks, boxes, and chests, while live plants
crossed oceans in wooden crates especially designed
to encourage their survival. Travelers often carried with
them small cabinets with multiple drawers, called
travel desks, where they could store and transport
the interesting objects they encountered during their
voyages. The compartments in the Quadro del Perú
function as these various kinds of boxes, storing pieces of
American nature and setting them in motion. Like natural
history drawings of preserved specimens, the painting
had advantages over the transport of live samples: It
conveyed representations of elements that would not
be movable in themselves, such as the mine, or that
often did not survive long voyages, as was often the case
with American plants and animals sent to Madrid. Like
the collection, the painting also imposed order on its
contents, in this way proposing a system that organized
American nature.18
The painting links natural history collections, travel,
and trade. These connections would have been obvious
to eighteenth-century audiences, as is also suggested by
the frontispiece to Michael Bernhard Valentini's Museum
Museorum (Frankfurt, 1 704) (fig. 4). This "museum of
museums" details the holdings of numerous natural
history cabinets of the time, describing curiosities as
well as items with medical and commercial uses, such
as indigo, nutmeg, and black pepper. The frontispiece
focuses on the section of the book that addresses items
from the West and East Indies, indicating the widespread
interest in non-European collections. The section's title
is framed by depictions of rare items, such as a polar
bear, a kayak, a bird of paradise; a composite "sea
monster," insects, minerals, sea shells, and various
vegetal and animal specimens. Like the Quadro del Figure 4. Frontispiece to Michael Bernhard Valentini, Museum
Perú, this frame is not a single composition but rather an Museorum, oder, Vollstândige Schau-Biihne aller Materlalien
assemblage of compartments, each holding a portion of und Specereyen: nebst deren natürlichen Beschreibung,
Election, Nutzen und Gebrauch, aus andern Material-,
the collection. The frontispiece thus arranges and boxes
Kunst- und Naturalien-Kammern, Oost-und-West-lndischen
its representation of a cabinet, and in turn depicts the
Reisz-Beschreibungen . . . (Frankfurt, 1704). Photo: Missouri
collection as divided and organized in smaller boxes
Botanical Garden Library, www.mobot.org.
labeled according to their contents. This frame itself
constitutes a collection of collections, drawing its figures
liberally from previous publications about natural history ship items from around the world to Europe. Wearing
cabinets, most notably the title page of Musei Wormiani winged boots and cap, Mercury holds in his left hand
historia (Leyden, 1655). At the center bottom of the page, a label with the words "East Indies," underscoring the
directly below the title, appears the figure of Mercury. importance of the exotic origin of these items and the
The fleet-footed god of merchants and merchandise awareness that conveying objects across distances was
is surrounded by packages, barrels, and sacks used to vital to both science and trade.
The association of collections with trade and with the
figure of Mercury is particularly significant in the context
18. I thank Fermín del Pino for the two last observations.
of the Quadro del Perú, given that the Lima journal to

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 Bleichmar: Peruvian nature up close, seen from afar 69

which Lequanda contributed various essays was entitled imperial nature through words, images, and artifacts.
Mercurio Peruano. The publication's title alludes to the In the second half of the eighteenth century, numerous
mythological figure's connection to trade, as well as to scientific expeditions voyaged through every corner
his attribute of speed, symbolized by the wings on his of the Spanish empire, attempting to identify valuable
boots and cap. The journal made explicit the relationship natural commodities and to map New World flora
among trade, natural history, and governance. The very according to the parameters recently established by
first page of the Prospecto that advertised the inaugural Linnaean systematics. They sent back to Madrid drawings
issue in 1791 begins as follows: "In all nations and all and collections for both the Royal Botanical Garden
ages, the progress of the sciences has been very slow." and the Royal Natural History Cabinet. In addition to
The prospectus goes on to celebrate the flourishing these expeditions, many individuals throughout the
of periodical publications like the Mercurio Peruano, empire—including physicians, pharmacists, priests, and
for which speed is of the essence, as an outstanding members of the imperial administration—participated in
achievement of the Enlightenment. The introductory the exploration of American natural history. At times they
preamble is also suggestive in the context of the Quadro worked on their own initiative, knowing that collections
del Perú because it compares the macrocosmos to a of artifacts and images were highly valued in Madrid.
painting and establishes that part of the journal's mission Often, they responded to orders and requests originating
is to provide information about Peru to remedy the fact in the Madrid Royal Botanical Garden, Royal Natural
that at present this kingdom "so favored by nature in its History Cabinet, and Royal Pharmacy, as well as the
mild climate and rich soil barely takes up a very small Council of Indies—all of which requested information
portion in the canvas [quadro] of the universe that is about curious or potentially profitable natural specimens
drawn up by historians." The journal thus sets out to across the empire.20 In the Hispanic world, pictorial
acquaint its readers with an encyclopedic collection of images had long served to transport New World histories
topics that include "knowledge of our mining; the state and stories across distances—as, for example, with the
of our arts, agriculture, fishing, and industries, be it from maps painted as part of the Relaciones geográficas,
the mother peninsula, be it from this kingdom [of Peru]." and many other instances where visual material served
Those are also the exact topics that Lequanda addresses evidentiary purposes.2' However, in the second half of
in his painting. Finally, the prospectus indicates that the eighteenth century, works like the Quadro del Perú
reading the Mercurio should be not only useful but also reinvented this tradition through their collaboration with
enjoyable and pleasant—the criteria that also guided new institutions and a new approach that linked art,
eighteenth-century collections and, presumably, the science, political economy, and ideas about utility.
experience of viewing the Quadro del Peru.19 As part of the widespread practice of documenting
and transporting the Americas through pictorial
collections, the Quadro del Perú is linked to other
Visualizing and transporting American nature
projects of the type. It is most closely related to the
The Quadro del Perú—a painting, a book, a collection known as Trujillo del Peru, a corpus of almost
collection, and a box—made American natural and fourteen hundred watercolor drawings commissioned
human history both visible and movable, transporting in the 1780s by Lequanda's uncle, Bishop Martinez
it to Madrid where it could be examined by curious Compañón, to document his diocese.22 The watercolors
eyes, many belonging to those who had not experienced
the New World themselves. It traveled so that they
did not have to. In this setting in motion of American
20. Bleichmar (see note 12); Paula de Vos, "The Rare, the Singular,
nature, the Quadro del Perú forms part of a large
and the Extraordinary: Natural History and the Collection of Curiosities
scale project to survey, amass, and transport Spanish in the Spanish Empire," in Science in the Spanish and Portuguese
Empires, 1500-1800, ed. Daniela Bleichmar, Paula De Vos, Kristin
Huffine, and Kevin Sheehan (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press,
19. Jacinto Calero y Moreira, Prospecto del papel periódico 2008), pp. 271-289.
intitulado Mercurio Peruano, de historia, literatura, y noticias 21. Barbara Mundy, The Mapping of New Spain: Indigenous
públicas, que a nombre de una Sociedad de Amantes del País, y Cartography and the Maps of the Relaciones Geográficas (Chicago:
como uno de ellos promete dar a luz (Lima, 1790) (facs. ed., Lima: University of Chicago Press, 1996).
Biblioteca Nacional del Perú, 1964); available online at http://www 22. Trever and Pillsbury (see note 15); Emily Berquist, "The Science
.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/12727219747815940876435/ of Empire: Bishop Martínez Compañón and the Enlightenment in Peru"
index.htm. (Ph.D. diss., University of Texas at Austin, 2007).

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70 RES 59/60 SPRING/AUTUMN 2011

Figure
Figure 5. Unknown artist, "Negro," from Trujillo del Perú, vol.6. Unknown artist, "Negra," from Trujillo del Perú, vol.
2, plate 43, ca. 1781-1789. Watercolor. Biblioteca Real 2,
deplate 44, ca. 1781-1789. Watercolor. Biblioteca Real de
Palacio, Madrid. Photo: Patrimonio Nacional de España.Palacio, Madrid. Photo: Patrimonio Nacional de España.

were painted by unknown artists in Peru and later knew the bishop's collection of watercolors. The painting
bound in nine volumes. Three of the volumes address acknowledges this debt, stating that nineteen of the
the kingdom's territory and human populations, and quadrupeds depicted in the Quadro del Perú, as well as
six focus on the quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and flora of some birds and plants, come from Martínez Compañón's
the region—the very same topics treated in the Quadro collection.23 In some cases, the representation of a
del Perú. Like Lequanda's painting, this collection specimen in the Quadro del Perú is a faithful copy of the
constitutes an extensive pictorial encyclopedia of Peru, corresponding watercolor in Trujillo del Perú, suggesting
commissioned by an official with personal knowledge of that Thiebaut had access either to the bishop's collection
the region for peninsular viewers who may or may not or to a set of copies of at least some of the watercolors.
have traveled there themselves. However, in contrast to In other cases, a specimen recorded under the same
the Quadro del Perú's loquacity, Trujillo del Peru consists name in both collections results in rather different
exclusively of images without a text. While it is uncertain illustrations, indicating a process of adaptation rather
whether Martínez Compañón had planned a written than direct copying. This is also the case with some of
treatise to go with this visual material or considered the "civilized nations" in the Quadro del Perú, which are
that the watercolors sufficed on their own, the project adapted from the bishop's watercolors, as, for instance,
nevertheless attests to a shared understanding of the Thiebaut's representation of a black man and a black
importance of collecting and transporting American woman (figs. 5 and 6, compare to fig. 2).24 Similarly,
nature through visual means. although both works depict the mine of Hualgayoc—
The two works, like the men who commissioned whose importance to Martínez Compañón and Lequanda
them, are closely related. Lequanda accompanied
Martínez Compañón in his official inspection tour [visita] 23. Barras de Aragon (see note 1), p. 240.
through the region of Trujillo in the early 1780s and 24. Borderfas Tejada (see note 6).

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 Bleichmar: Peruvian nature up close, seen from afar 71

in vrnAf A«- ° Cr+it<n, t< " "" ^ iS<-r>

ot/{trs U*nc>i<p ■ ■■< ■**.«.<•<•<*** &*• e/ */a - ■»'*>*» , ■; ' ■**•«■<>- ,
'° y»*f >ctu4, \ ' y,. . ,<*« .*•-£, ^ ~ pfai ^<utvw, A CriJ.^MX, c*r~» e/j/f
r>OLC«^ ?n.ty jw „ , ,y/< f* ''< »<?■> ^ &? +>i f-****** ve-ty**-*
,p^ /T«7 e>w-J$\.<.j,ty / i, f jet* %f€*yct*m<oc*"

Figure 7. Unknown artist (Thaddeus Haenke?, 1761-1817), Yndio Yuri and Yndio Yquito, ca.
1789-1794. Watercolor, 7 x 9% in. (18 x 24.5 cm). Museo de América, Madrid. Photo: Museo de
América, Madrid.

has already been mentioned—they provide completely adaptations made in Europe after the expedition's return
different images: Trujillo del Perú shows a cross-section (figs. 7 and 8, compare to fig. 3).25 Some of the drawings
of the mine, focusing on the mineral ores, while the of Amerindians also appear in viceroy Francisco Gil
Quadro del Perú portrays the outside of the hill and de Lemos y Taboada's 1 796 official account of his
nearby population, focusing on the labor organization administration (relación de gobierno), which Lequanda
through which the mine was exploited. partly authored. This suggests that the drawings made
The Quadro del Perú also incorporates drawings by one or more members of the Malaspina expedition at
made in Peru sometime between 1789 and 1794 by some point between 1 789 and 1794 were then copied
members of the circumnavigation expedition led by and used in the viceregal report, with further copies kept
naval officer Alejandro Malaspina. As with Trujillo by Lequanda and later on used in Madrid as models for
del Perú, Thiebaut seems to have adapted rather than the Quadro del Perú.
copied most of these drawings. They include: bird The direct connection among the Trujillo del Perú
illustrations attributed to artist José Guio; watercolors collection, the expedition's drawings, the viceregal
of human types corresponding to the Quadro del Perú's report, and the Quadro del Perú underscores the
"civilized nations," attributed to artist Juan Ravenet; argument made here that drawings and paintings
watercolors of Amerindians corresponding to the provided an important means of documenting and
Quadro del Pern's "savage nations," attributed to the communicating imperial nature and society within both
Bohemian naturalistThaddeus Haenke, with manuscript
annotations that also relate to the inscriptions in the
paintings without providing direct transcriptions; and 25. Attribution for some of these drawings is extremely difficult.
unattributed watercolors that represent some of the Carmen Sotos Serrano, Los pintores de la expedición de Alejandro
same Amerindians as the previous series, and may be Malaspina, 2 vols. (Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1982).

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72 RES 59/60 SPRING/AUTUMN 2011

J'tmer.a .wrr.:
ihwJmtutsc dOn;u\3r pr .'.V, *
•r.t. iuw rf.-tfc atittv: a.
//«»' /Vy»VWuV, w'N 4 >

Figure 9. "Limeña" (detail), from LuisThiebaut (n.d.), Quadro

Figure 10. Unknown artist, "Española con traje a lo antiguo,"
de Historia Natural, Civil y Geográfica del Reyno del Perú, from Trujillo del Perú, vol. 2, plate III, ca. 1781-1789.
1799. Oil on panel, 128 x 45Vi in. (325 by 115 cm). Museo Watercolor. Biblioteca Real de Palacio, Madrid. Photo:
Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid. Patrimonio Nacional de España.

own depiction of a woman from Lima, included in the

scientific and administrative circles. An enlightened
bishop, an artist traveling as part of a scientific
Quadro del Perú's "civilized nations" (figs. 9-11 ). The
expedition, a viceroy documenting the accomplishments
artist selected from one drawing (fig. 10) the pink shoes,
of his administration, and a viceregal treasury official white stockings, jewelry, shape of the skirt, the apron or
alike found visual material the preferred way of handkerchief, and the three-quarter left-profile pose; and
transmitting information. Despite having rather differentfrom the other (fig. 11 ) the yellow and blue horizontally
purposes and agendas, they all resorted to visual material
striped pattern for the skirt fabric, the hairpiece of
and found almost identical images flexible enough to white lace with pink and white flowers, the pink flower
perform various tasks in order to communicate Americanin one hand, and perhaps the use of a column as an
facts and experiences to both local and metropolitan architectural feature. He also modified various aspects
audiences. Visual evidence allowed them to translate from each of his sources and introduced elements of his
the Americas in both meanings of the word: not only to own, creating an amalgam that contains new aspects.
render them from one register (experiential) to another For this reason, a work like the Quadro del Perú
(pictorial) but also to transport and transfer them. is somewhat slippery if approached solely within the
The close relationship among these various works art historical framework of authorship and originality:
suggests that representations and texts circulated widely asking whether the painting is original or derivative
among individuals and groups in the viceroyalties and is not only tricky to answer, it also may be the wrong
the peninsula; often had multiple authors; and were question to pose altogether given that the historical
constantly copied, adapted, and transformed into new actors involved in its creation and reception seemed to
materials. For instance, Thiebaut took elements from two have focused instead on the work's capacity-to embody
separate watercolors, one from the Malaspina expedition and transport the natural and civil history of Peru. The
and the other from Trujillo del Perú, to produce his fact that the Quadro del Perú was related so closely to

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 Bleichmar: Peruvian nature up close, seen from afar 73

series of multiple images that would often be bound as

books, viewed in a sequence, and almost always not
exhaustively from cover to cover—the painting achieves
through a single image. It does so at an impressive scale,
measuring approximately 128 by 451/4 inches (325 by
115 centimeters). The painting's mural size is significant
in terms of what it reveals about the way viewers were
meant to examine it. A small artifact, such as a miniature
or a devotional image, can be held in one's hands and
inspected up close, by a single person at a time or at
most by two who are very close together. A small object
is easy to transport and can move around, traveling from
one place to another or even from one room to another.
By contrast, the Quadro del Peru's dimensions make it
much more difficult to transport, especially once it has
s ■/v"' been framed. It requires display in a rather large room,
and that the viewer stand at a distance to contemplate
it in its entirety—although the great number of small
images also invites closer proximity if the viewer is to
make out these details and read the text. In other words,
this is a painting that invites a public gaze, with various
^C/no?ja, ('Tl I i 9 2
people seeing it concurrently. All this suggests that the
Figure 11. Juan Ravenet? (1766-1821 ?), Señora de Lima, ca.
Quadro del Perú was created for public display and
designed to impress the viewer both through its size and
1789-1794. Watercolor. 7% x 5Va in. (20 x 13 cm). Museo de
América, Madrid. Photo: Museo de América, Madrid. through the various images and information it contains.
Like the kingdom it represents, the Quadro del Perú is
visually rich and interpretively fertile. It registers at once
as an encyclopedia in word and image, as a collection of
useful and curious objects, and as the box that transports
other available representations of Peru would have made of Peru to Europe. As a book, the work inscribes
views
it more credible and valuable, not less. Furthermore, knowledge and sets it in motion, making it available
any desire to trace a lineage linking Trujillo del Perú, to readers and viewers who may or may not have
the expedition's drawings, the viceroys' report, and themselves traveled. As a collection, it highlights the
Lequanda's painting in order to establish which workimportance of accumulation and compartimentaiization
represents the original and which a copy is also to a as techniques for making sense of material. As a box,
certain extent misguided. The issue is not so much it contains, transports, and mobilizes knowledge. And
which work was the first, but rather the fact that thereas a painting—for, after all, this is the format in which
were multiple versions. As with prints, circulation madeLequanda chose to present his gift to the imperial
administration—the Quadro del Perú demonstrates
visual evidence more powerful: if these images had been
unique and impossible to copy, they would have proveddocumentary and evidentiary functions of pictorial
the
images in the Hispanic world. The work formed part of
less useful. Their power resided both in their capacity to
transport American visions and to engender multiples, long tradition of traveling images within the Spanish
a
empire, in which visual materials served as means of
to spread out a vision again and again and through this
broadcast make it credible. transportation and persuasion for overlapping scientific
While the Quadro del Perú belongs to a well and administrative circles. A visual epistemology based
established practice of using visual evidence to circulate on the role of observation and pictorial representation
the Americas throughout the Spanish empire, there provided ways of investigating and knowing. Through
is nevertheless a trait that makes this work novel: the these documentary and evidentiary uses, pictorial images
choice of a painting as the format. What Martinez worked in concert with words and objects to bridge
Compañón, Lázaro de Ribera, the scientific expeditions, distances, making it possible for Peruvian nature to be
and so many others were doing in parts—producing examined in Europe, up close from afar.

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