Lot 218: Anthony Carey Stannus (Irish, 1830-1919) Chapultepec Park, Mexico City

Chapultepec Park, Mexico City
bears signature and inscription on panel verso
watercolour
34 x 52cm (13 3/8 x 20 1/2in).

Stannus travelled to Mexico in 1864, where he was employed as an artist in the army of Emperor Maximilian and later as a correspondent for the Illustrated London News. He returned to London in 1868.

Chapultepec, which in the ancient Aztec language Nahuatl means "Hill of the Grasshopper", is a rocky outcrop in Mexico City and is surmounted by Chapultepec Castle. The first residence at Chapultepec was established in the fourteenth century by Nezahualcoyotl, King of Texcoco who ordered a palace to be built at the foot of the hill. The current building was built in 1785 by the Spanish and substantially altered in 1864 by the Emperor Maximilian. It now houses the Museum of Mexican History.