Image: Daniel del Valle, Moctezuma II Museo Nacional De Arte

Description: Painting made by Mexican artist Daniel del Valle titled Moctezuma II visitando las tumbas de sus antepasados (Moctezuma II visiting the tombs of his ancestors), made in 1895 and currently located at the National Museum of Art in Mexico City, oil on canvas. The painting depicts Moctezuma II, Emperor of the Mexica Empire, visiting the engravings on the stones of the forest of Chapultepec (in modern-day Mexico City) depicting the previous Emperors. Nowadays, only Moctezuma's engraving has partially survived, the rest being destroyed during the Mexican Colonial Period. This painting is Daniel del Valle's most notable work, through which the artist "went down in history", being made during a period in the 19th century in which Mexican artists participated in the search of the national identity through the abundant creation historical works, such as monuments, lithographs and paintings. Through this search, the pre-Hispanic past of the country was given its lost value to affirm the Mexican nationality. This particular work was the winner of a competition held in 1895 by the National School of Fine Arts, in the Academy of San Carlos. Del Valle received the work's theme from Master José Salomé Pina: "The passage in which Moctezuma cries, in great sadness, when contemplating his portrait that the artists had carved on a rock on Chapultepec Hill."
Title: Moctezuma II visitando las tumbas de sus antepasadoslabel QS:Len,"Moctezuma II visitando las tumbas de sus antepasados" label QS:Les,"Moctezuma II visitando las tumbas de sus antepasados"
Credit: Jorge Elías (Flickr)
Author: Daniel del Valle
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No