South America.- Chile.- Wood (Charles "Carlos"

South America.- Chile.- Wood Taylor (Charles "Carlos" Chatworthy, painter, engineer, mariner, and military officer, 1792-1856) H.M. Ships "Collingwood" 80 Guns, "Asia" 84, and "Constance", 50 - Taken with the Camera Obscura, in the bay of Valparaiso by Lieut. Col. C. C. Wood, pencil, watercolour heightened with white on wove paper, with pencil inscription lower centre, signed 'C. C. Wood' lower left, and inscribed 'Valparaiso April 5th 1848' in the lower right corner, 313 x 472 mm (12 1/4 x 18 5/8 in), mounted onto board, associated toning and browning throughout the sheet, some spotting and surface dirt, large repaired tear in the lower centre, another smaller in the upper left corner, other minor nicks to the extremities, unframed, 1848

⁂ Considered one of the most influential foreign artists who shaped modern painting in Chile. Wood Taylor worked in Boston in North America in 1817-1818, before joining an expedition to South America, arriving in Chile in 1819. In 1824, he arrived back in Valparaiso, following a trip to Peru, and while recovering from his journey he met the woman who would be his future wife; he subsequently converted to Catholicism to marry Dolores Chacon Ramirez de Arellano, and was to reside in Chile until 1852. An engineer as well as an artist, he worked on various planning and construction projects in Valparaiso, including work on the railways. He also designed the Coat of arms of Chile, which was adopted by the government in 1834.

Another closely comparable view by the same hand, showing 'A View of H.M.S. Collingwood at the instant of shifting the Flag of Admiral Sir Geo S[eymo]ur from white to red and crossing top gallant yards at 8 A.M on the (Valparaiso)', was offered on the London art market in September, 2021 [unsigned but 'Attributed to Wood Taylor', see Bonham's London, Travel and Exploration, 14th September 2021, lot 183]. This work was likely a preliminary study for the slightly larger version dedicated and gifted by the artist to Admiral Seymour [see Christie's South Kensington, 26th May 2004, lot 398]. Another smaller version of this subject appears to have also utilised the camera obscura technology that the artist employs in the present work, with it being inscribed and dated "Chas C Wood November 1847. / Taken by the Camera Obscura" [see Christie's London, 8th April 1998, lot 29].