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Lot Essay
Although the Brazilian-born Juan León Pallière (1823-1887) spent only eleven years from 1855 to 1866 in Argentina, he developed an eloquent pictorial language that documented the nation’s rural traditions and customs. His compelling images, some of which were later published in England and France, provide a graphic record of life in mid-nineteenth century Argentina both for the curious in Europe, and for posterity. His numerous trips, which he described in prolific journals, detail the places he visited during these years which included Rosario, Mendoza, Santiago, Valparaíso, Tucumán, among others before returning to Buenos Aires. A romantic, he often pronounced nature in deeply personal prose, such as: “The grandeur of nature mitigates all sorrows.” (as quoted in León Pallière, Diario de viaje por la América del Sud, 1945).
Like other Europeans before him such as landscape painters and men of science like Alexander von Humboldt, he was inspired by the extraordinary majesty of the South American continent but painted those who worked and lived on its sometimes harsh and compelling vastness. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1823, his father was Armand Julien Pallière (1784-1862) the celebrated French painter to Dom Pedro I, first emperor of Brazil and his court. As a young boy he travelled with his family to Europe and at the age of thirteen entered the workshop of François-Éduard Picot in Paris. In 1848 he was accepted in the Academia de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires and the following year won a scholarship to study in Paris and Rome. Among his notable oeuvre are his sketches of his many voyages in Argentina realized in watercolors, paintings and his lithography. In 1864, Pallière’s work was shown for the first time at the Paris Salon where he continued to exhibit until 1864.
The large canvas details a quiet moment in the pampas, the low grasslands, after the toils of the day have concluded. The painter does not dwell on the epic landscape but instead, concentrates on the figures that occupy this idyllic setting. The center figure, or el payador, the man playing his guitar engages the young woman who has momentarily stopped her spinning; perhaps, she has not even started, preferring to listen to his music. The figure of el payador with his guitar is central to Argentine gaucho culture. He is a guitar-playing gaucho who sings about rural life in the pampas. The gaucho, the rebellious and self-reliant skilled horseman who settled the pampas, became a national symbol, especially during the wars of independence from Spain in 1819. The older figure sitting close to his dog is content to see the day come to a close. Unlike other traveler painters such as the North American Frederic Edwin Church, Pallière inserts the human presence in his compositions. Images such as this serene rendering paid homage to freedom and propelled a national icon—a romantic hero, who could ride horses, fights wars valiantly, and sing at day’s end in the vast natural landscape.
M. J. Aguilar, Ph.D.
Like other Europeans before him such as landscape painters and men of science like Alexander von Humboldt, he was inspired by the extraordinary majesty of the South American continent but painted those who worked and lived on its sometimes harsh and compelling vastness. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1823, his father was Armand Julien Pallière (1784-1862) the celebrated French painter to Dom Pedro I, first emperor of Brazil and his court. As a young boy he travelled with his family to Europe and at the age of thirteen entered the workshop of François-Éduard Picot in Paris. In 1848 he was accepted in the Academia de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires and the following year won a scholarship to study in Paris and Rome. Among his notable oeuvre are his sketches of his many voyages in Argentina realized in watercolors, paintings and his lithography. In 1864, Pallière’s work was shown for the first time at the Paris Salon where he continued to exhibit until 1864.
The large canvas details a quiet moment in the pampas, the low grasslands, after the toils of the day have concluded. The painter does not dwell on the epic landscape but instead, concentrates on the figures that occupy this idyllic setting. The center figure, or el payador, the man playing his guitar engages the young woman who has momentarily stopped her spinning; perhaps, she has not even started, preferring to listen to his music. The figure of el payador with his guitar is central to Argentine gaucho culture. He is a guitar-playing gaucho who sings about rural life in the pampas. The gaucho, the rebellious and self-reliant skilled horseman who settled the pampas, became a national symbol, especially during the wars of independence from Spain in 1819. The older figure sitting close to his dog is content to see the day come to a close. Unlike other traveler painters such as the North American Frederic Edwin Church, Pallière inserts the human presence in his compositions. Images such as this serene rendering paid homage to freedom and propelled a national icon—a romantic hero, who could ride horses, fights wars valiantly, and sing at day’s end in the vast natural landscape.
M. J. Aguilar, Ph.D.