The Artist Carried in a Sillero over the Chiapas from Palenque to Ocosingo, Mexico,

ca. 1833

In the 1830s, Waldeck traveled to Chiapas, Mexico, to make drawings and record information about archaeological sites such as Palenque. In this painting, likely made upon his return to Europe, the artist showed himself being carried up a rocky mountain by an Indigenous porter in a light chair used to transport European travelers through treacherous passes in the Americas, particularly in the Andes. Ostensibly a self-portrait, the figure of the artist is hidden: only his hat, hand, and leg are visible, although the shadow of his body can be glimpsed through the side of the chair. Instead, the central compositional focus of the painting is the anonymized Indigenous man’s muscular body exploited and objectified for Waldeck’s benefit. The idyllic landscape that unfolds beyond them suggests an untouched world similarly ripe for European exploitation.