José del Pozo (c. 1757,

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

- c. 1821,

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

) was a Spanish painter; known primarily for his participation in the

Malaspina Expedition The Malaspina Expedition (1789–1794) was a five-year maritime scientific exploration commanded by Alessandro Malaspina and José de Bustamante y Guerra. Although the expedition receives its name from Malaspina, he always insisted on giving Busta ...

.Sotos Serrano, "José del Pozo" He spent most of his career in Peru. Some sources give his year of death as 1830.

Life and work

His father was the painter Pedro del Pozo (died 1785), who was appointed Director of the Real Escuela de Tres Nobles Artes in 1775. His original studies were at that institution and, ten years later, upon his father's death, José was chosen to succeed him, with reduced responsibilities. Malaspina Expedition
In 1789, Alessandro Malaspina, before departing from

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

, asked , a member of the Council of Castile, to find a young painter would could accompany him on the expedition. De Bruna had been a friend of José's father, so he recommended him. The expedition's first stop was at

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, where the artists produced drawings of the plant and animal species. Two (of plants) are signed by him and are currently preserved at the

Museo Naval de Madrid The Naval Museum ( es, Museo Naval) is a national museum in Madrid, Spain. It shows the history of the Spanish Navy since the Catholic Monarchs, in the 15th century, up to the present. The displays set naval history in a wide context with informat ...

. They also possess two of his watercolors, depicting Puerto Deseado; the first paintings made in Argentina. He produced numerous drawings of landscapes and people in Patagonia, and several portraits of indigenous people were later sent to King

Carlos IV , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place ...

from

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists o ...

. By 1790, they had reached the port of Talcahuano, then went on to Concepción,

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

and

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

.José del Pozo,
Segunda vista de Santiago de Chile
', Archivo Visual de Santiago, 1790. Lima
Despite the support of Malaspina, he was dismissed from the expedition before it left Callao. No reason has ever been ascertained. However, the new

Viceroy of Peru The viceroys of Peru ruled the Viceroyalty of Peru from 1544 to 1824 in the name of the monarch of Spain. The territories under ''de jure'' rule by the viceroys included in the 16th and 17th century almost all of South America except eastern Brazi ...

, Francisco Gil de Taboada, was an acquaintance of his, so he decided to stay in Lima rather than return to Spain.Puig-Samper (2012) Soon, he founded an art school and devoted himself to painting portraits of prominent people, as well as creating some religious works. He died there, sometime around 1821, but certainly before 1830; possibly from causes related to the

Peruvian War of Independence The Peruvian War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia del Perú, links=no) consisted in a series of military conflicts in Peru beginning with viceroy Abascal military victories in the south frontier in 1809, in La Paz revolution an ...

References

* Carmen Sotos Serrano, ''Los pintores de la expedición de Alejandro Malaspina'', Madrid, Real Academia de la Historia, 1982.

External links

* Miguel Ángel Puig-Samper,
Illustrators of the New World. The Image in the Spanish Scientific Expeditions of the Enlightenment
, ''Culture & History Digital Journal'', Vol 1, No 2, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pozo, Jose del 1750s births 1820s deaths Spanish painters Peruvian painters Peruvian male painters Portrait painters Painters from Seville Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain