Panoramic View of Buenos Ayres

Location

Country: Argentina
City: Buenos Aires
Place: British Embassy

This panoramic view of the city shows the Plaza de Mayo and its surrounding quarters looking eastwards. Prominent landmarks include the Pirámide de Mayo in the centre of the plaza, erected in 1811 on the first anniversary of independence, and the Catedral Metropolitana, the earliest neoclassical building in Buenos Aires. This print is probably the view from the tower of the Cabildo that Kretschmar is known to have produced in 1836, which was published in London in 1842. The Cabildo itself is shown in a vignette at the bottom of the print; six of its eleven arches were later destroyed when the Avenida de Mayo was widened.  

London-born Richard Gilson Reeve was the son, and most likely pupil, of Richard Reeve (born 1780). Both father and son were aquatint engravers, mainly of sporting and marine subjects.

Places

South America, Argentina, Buenos Aires

Subjects

topography, townscape/cityscape, public square, house, portico

Materials & Techniques

aquatint

Artist

Major E Kretschmar
Thomas Kearnan
Augustus William Reeve (1807 - )
Richard Gilson Reeve (1803 - 1889)

Title

Panoramic View of Buenos Ayres

Date

Medium

Aquatint

Acquisition

Presented by the Victoria and Albert Museum, March 1948

Provenance

Earl of Harrowby; Victoria and Albert Museum; presented by V&A to Ministry of Works 1948

GAC number

527