A man riding a mule, his whip raised, another mule loaded with grass alongside, from a group of drawings depicting Peruvian dress

A man riding a mule, his whip raised, another mule loaded with grass alongside, from a group of drawings depicting Peruvian dress

Francisco (Pancho) Fierro

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

From a group of 37 drawings (watercolours) that depict Peruvian costume and customs. The type (costumbrismo) was established by Francisco (Pancho) Fierro, an Peruvian artist of African descent who created over 1000 such works, the popularity of which spawned many imitators. The quality of the present group suggest that they might be autograph and not the work of a follower. Several are dated 1848 and Lima recorded as their location. For Fierro see: Natalia Majluf (ed), 'Reproducing Nations: Types and Costumes in Asia and Latin America, ca. 1800–1860‘ (Americas Society, New York, 2006); 'Acuarelas de Pancho Fierro y seguidores. Colección Ricardo Palma’, (Lima 2007); Natalia Majluf and Marcus B. Burke, ‘Tipos del Peru: la Lima criolla de Pancho Fierro’, (Madrid 2008); Maribel Arrelucea Barrantes, ‘Raza, género y cultura en las acuarelas de Pancho Fierro’, in 'Arquelogía y Sociedad', no 23, 2011, pp.267-293; Mark McDonald (February 2019)

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A man riding a mule, his whip raised, another mule loaded with grass alongside, from a group of drawings depicting Peruvian dressA man riding a mule, his whip raised, another mule loaded with grass alongside, from a group of drawings depicting Peruvian dressA man riding a mule, his whip raised, another mule loaded with grass alongside, from a group of drawings depicting Peruvian dressA man riding a mule, his whip raised, another mule loaded with grass alongside, from a group of drawings depicting Peruvian dressA man riding a mule, his whip raised, another mule loaded with grass alongside, from a group of drawings depicting Peruvian dress

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.