#M58
1851
Watercolour and pencil on paper, ca. 13x17,5 cm (5 ¼ x 7 in). Captioned and signed in pencil in the left lower corner. Mounted on paper within a hand drawn watercolour border. Recently matted, very good watercolour.
Early important view of the Chilean city of Coquimbo, which developed from a fishing village into an important international port in the 1840-es, but was officially designated as a town only in 1867. The view was made at the time of the crucial initial stage of Coquimbo’s development and gives a wide panorama of the harbour with several large sailing vessels, and the core of the growing settlement, then just a small fishing village, with several houses and a church in the distance.
“Coquimbo is a port city, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. The natural harbor in Coquimbo was taken over by Pedro de Valdivia from Spain in 1550. The gold and copper industry in the region led to the city's importance as a port around 1840 and many Europeans especially from England settled in Coquimbo. In 1867 it was recognized as a town” (Wikipedia).
