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Lot Essay
For a study for the present subject and for variants see Diener, CH-D-33, and CH-O-5 to -9, the view repeatedly painted by Ernest Charton during his residence at Valparaiso, 1858-1860, for which see Christie's South Kensington, 10 November 1988, lot 19 (£17,000), Christie's New York, 24 November 2014, lot 43 ($173,000), and Christie's London, 29 October 2015, lot 54 (£206,500).
The port of Valparaiso grew quickly after Chile won independence from Spain in 1818 and the country opened to international trade. It has a particularly cosmopolitan population, as European businessmen, diplomats, shipping and engineering companies set up for business in Chile. It was the base for the Republic of Chile's navy and the South America Station of the British Royal Navy between 1826 and 1838, protecting British interest in the South Pacific and on the American coast. It was the stopover for shipping rounding the Horn and transiting the Straits of Magellan, the export hub for Chile's vast copper deposits and later became the main supply centre for the Californian Gold Rush. As Chile's and the west coast of America's main port it thrived until the Panama canal opened in 1914.
It was a picturesque subject for artists, sitting like an amphitheatre on the Pacific coast, and was painted by numerous transient artists in its heyday in the early to mid-19th century, including a variety of naval officers on the South America Station, and most notably by Conrad Martens, FitzRoy and Darwin's artist who left the Beagle at the port in 1834, Auguste Borget, and Charles Chatworthy Wood Taylor (resident in Chile 1819-1852). .
The port of Valparaiso grew quickly after Chile won independence from Spain in 1818 and the country opened to international trade. It has a particularly cosmopolitan population, as European businessmen, diplomats, shipping and engineering companies set up for business in Chile. It was the base for the Republic of Chile's navy and the South America Station of the British Royal Navy between 1826 and 1838, protecting British interest in the South Pacific and on the American coast. It was the stopover for shipping rounding the Horn and transiting the Straits of Magellan, the export hub for Chile's vast copper deposits and later became the main supply centre for the Californian Gold Rush. As Chile's and the west coast of America's main port it thrived until the Panama canal opened in 1914.
It was a picturesque subject for artists, sitting like an amphitheatre on the Pacific coast, and was painted by numerous transient artists in its heyday in the early to mid-19th century, including a variety of naval officers on the South America Station, and most notably by Conrad Martens, FitzRoy and Darwin's artist who left the Beagle at the port in 1834, Auguste Borget, and Charles Chatworthy Wood Taylor (resident in Chile 1819-1852). .