Ernest Charton (1815-1877)

For other South American works on this scale by Charton, see his 1857 view of Valparaíso, looking in the opposite direction on the same road (Christie's South Kensington, 10 Nov. 1988, lot 19), and his fine view of Quito, Ecuador (Christie's London, 25 Sept. 2003, lot 434). An itinerant French artist, Charton arrived with his family in Chile in 1843, and settled in Santiago, painting such classic Chilean landscapes as this view which, with its companion overlooking Valparaíso (above), had been popularised by Rugendas in his numerous versions of the two subjects painted in 1841-43.