Camp of the Chorographic Commission in Yarumito, Colombia.
- Title
- Camp of the Chorographic Commission in Yarumito, Colombia.
- Date Created
- 1850
- Creator
- Carmelo Fernández
- Identifier
- fc_corografica_131
- Original Location
- Yarumito, Columbia
- Current Location
- National Library of Colombia
- Description
-
This watercolor was created by Venezuelan Carmelo Fernández (1809–87), one of the three official draftsmen and painters of the Chorographic Commission, an ambitious Colombian enterprise to map the country, including its mineral resources, between 1850 and 1859.
The Commission was led by the Italian born Agustín Codazzi (1793–1859), who involved members of his family: his wife Araceli de la Hoz served as de facto quartermaster, chief logistician, and hostess, while his daughter Constanza and her siblings assisted with reproducing maps. His sons Domingo and Lorenzo also participated in the group’s explorations. The Commission counted on interpreters, porters, muleteers, peons, baqueanos, all led by the butler José Domingo Carrasquel.
The watercolor shows a character with a spyglass, presumably a naturalist, and the daily life of the camp, where it was necessary to cook, care for horses and mules, organize samples, notes and reports, as well as pitch and repair tents. Observations were not made in a vacuum, requiring numerous assistants, go-betweens, and wider support networks to make it possible to look, interpret, measure, and collect. - Credit
- Camp of the Chorographic Commission in Yarumito, Colombia. Author: Carmelo Fernández, 1850. Watercolor on paper, 28 x 20cm. Source: National Library of Colombia https://bibliotecanacional.gov.co/.
- Contributor
- Dr. Nicolás Cuvi, Senior Research Professor, Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO Ecuador)
- Item sets
- The Things They Carried Exhibit
- Site pages
- Map
- Media
-
fc_corografica_131.jpg
Part of Camp of the Chorographic Commission in Yarumito, Colombia.