Santiago from the hill of Santa Lucia, looking west

Rugendas worked on this subject, another great iconic and nationalist image, from the first months of his stay in Chile, his celebrated view of Santiago taken from the west side of the hill of Santa Lucia, showing the city's main square, the Mapocho river to the right and the coastal mountains beyond. For the same view, taken from a little further back on the hill, with changes in the foreground figures, see Christie’s London, 25 Sept. 2003, lot 433, dated 1841 (£201,250). For smaller versions see Diener, CH-0-27 and Christie’s New York, 20-21 Nov. 2015, lot 43 ($221,000).

For Rugendas's preliminary studies for these pictures, drawn in 1835 and 1839, some of them composing half a panorama of the city with the surrounding landscape (Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich, inv. nos. 15990-15994), see P. Diener, Rugendas, Augsburg, 1997, cat. nos. CH-D-98 - CH-D-102.