Pintura militar: entre lo episódico y la acción de masas

Abstract

The 1862 French Intervention was viewed in differing ways by Mexican artists; this article compares the contrasting versions of Francisco P. Mendoza and Constantino Escalante. The former was a painter trained at the School of Fine Arts, while the latter was a draughtsman skilled in lithography and caricature. Mendoza was officially commissioned to paint a series of battles that brought fame and glory to Porfirio Díaz. Escalante preferred to illustrate the conflict from a freer and more spontaneous perspective motivated by liberal ideals. Consequently, just as the painter provides an academic and anecdotal vision, so the lithographer, whose drawing was undoubtedly superior, offers a more dynamic, expressive perspective in which soldiers’ bodies are the true protagonists.