Lot 2348 D α

Born in Sens, Burgundy, and educated at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the painter Ernest Marc Jules Charton Thiessen de Treville spent most of his life in South America. He arrived in the Chilean port city of Valparaiso in 1843 at the age of 27 with his wife and three children. Five years later he moved to the capital Santiago and set up his studio there in close proximity to that of his compatriot Raymond Monvoisin.
Charton was one of those typical 19th century artist-adventurers who went far afield in search of exotic motifs and the unexplored natural world. Lured by gold fever in California, he boarded a ship from Chile to San Francisco at the end of October 1848, stopping after two weeks on the Galapagos Islands to stock up on water. When most of the passengers were ashore, the ship cast off and left the travellers to their fate. Months later, it was not until March 1849 that the stranded passengers could be brought to safety in Guayaquil. It was there that our picture was made, offering a view of the calm waters of the Guayaquil River with its raised huts and characteristic boats.

After travelling for some time, Charton returned to Chile in 1855. In 1870 he crossed the Andes to seek his fortune in the rich Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. In memory of this journey, he painted his monumental Vista de la Cordillera de los Andes (115 x 197 cm), which is now in the Museo de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires.

Charton's works are characterised by their vivid colours and realistic depiction of the life and population of the young Ibero-American republics. To his students in Chile, Ecuador and Argentina, he bequeathed the aspiration towards a realistic style of painting that would be predominant in these countries until the end of the century.