Alexander von Humboldt From the Americas to the Cosmos Coordinated by: Raymond Erickson Mauricio A. Font Brian Schwartz Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies The Graduate Center, The City University of New York iii Contents List of Figures vii List of Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii Preface xv Part I: Cantata 1 Humboldt, Mendelssohnm, and Musical Unity 3 R. Larry Todd 2 Willkommen! 13 Text by Ludwig Rellstab Part II: Culture and Society in the New World 3 Faith and the Conquest 19 José Gabriel Brauchy 4 Humboldt en la Nueva España 25 Jaime Labastida 5 A ‘Romantic’ Encounter with Latin America 41 Elizabeth Millán-Zaibert 6 La Arquitectura Inca 57 César W. Astuhuamán Gonzáles 7 Arrogance and squalor? Lima’s Elite 69 Paul Rizo-Patrón 8 The National Imagination in New Granada 83 Margarita Serje 9 Entre Caos y Cosmos 99 Odette Casamayor Cisneros 10 The Scientist and the Patrician: Reformism in Cuba 111 Alfonso W. Quiroz 11 Celebrity in American Society and Science 129 Michael F. Conlin Part III: Literature and the Arts 12 Landscape Painting Between Art and Science 141 Claudia Mattos 13 New Sites and Sounds 157 Adrienne Klein 14 Humboldt and the Visual Arts in America 167 Amy H. Winter 15 Women Travelers in Humboldt’s New World 173 Adriana Méndez Rodenas iv 16 Classic Nomenclature in New Exploration 183 Donald Hassler 17 Palabras y Pinceles del Paisaje Venezolano 189 José Ángel Rodríguez 18 Análisis Contrastivo del ‘Ensayo Político’ 203 María-Rosario Martí Marco 19 Threats to the European Subject 221 Jason H. Lindquist 20 Configuraciones de lo real maravilloso 237 Rocío Oviedo 21 The Birth of the Two Cultures 247 Laura Dassow Walls 22 Científico, y Poeta 259 Luisa V. De Castillo Part IV: Life and Travels 23 A French Perspective 281 Pierre Laszlo 24 Maler, Legacy and Mexico 293 Claudine Leysinger 25 Una Mirada Recíproca 311 Sandra Rebok 26 Recording civilization 325 Georgia de Havenon 27 Witkiewicz and the Course of Mid-Eastern History 343 Daniel Gerould 28 Influencia en los artículos de Bello 353 Alister Ramírez Márquez 29 A Humboldtian Explorer in New York 361 Aaron Sachs 30 Influences of ‘Kosmos’ in ‘Earth and Man’ 371 Philip K. Wilson Part V: Knowledge and Worldview 31 Rousseau’s Anticipation of Plant Geography 387 Alexandra Cook 32 A German minerologist visits Peru 403 Scarlett O’Phelan Godoy 33 Mexican Reception of ‘Political Essay’ 415 Richard Weiner 34 The Mexican Mining Bubble that Burst: 427 Ivani Vassoler v 35 Writing In and Out of Time 437 Ann C. Colley 36 Scientific Instruments in ‘Cartas Americanas’ 445 Ann de Leon 37 Trailblazer for Ecology 453 Dietland Muller-Schwarze 38 Ancient and modern forms of slavery 469 Irene Prüfer Leske 39 Gradations of Suffering and Privation 485 Evelyn Powell Jennings 40 Speaking of Nature 501 David Kenosian 41 Herschel, Humboldt and Imperial Science 509 Christopher Carter 42 Writing Science 519 Renata Schellenberg 43 Afectos Científicos Italianos 525 Marisa Vannini de Gerulewicz vii Figures FIGURE 6-1. Mapa de Piura. Fuente: Vallejos 1925. 59 FIGURE 6-2. Plano de un sector de Chulucanas (Caxas). Fuente: Bonpland 1802. 60 FIGURE 6-3. Reconstrucción hipotética de Caxas. Dibujo: C. Campos 2003. 63 FIGURE 6-4. Foto del acllahuasi de Caxas. Fuente: Bleyleben 1970. 63 FIGURE 12-1. Jacob Philipp Hackert, “View of the Vesuvius,” 1794, oil 62,7 x 88 cm, private collection. 152 FIGURE 12-2. Jacob Philipp Hackert, Title page of the book: “Principles to learn how to draw landscape from nature,” 1802.153 FIGURE 12-3. Spix and Martius, “Plants of Tropical America” Lithography from “Atlas of the Voyage to Brazil,” 1823. 154 FIGURE 12-4. Spix and Martius, “Extraction and preparation of the turtle eggs at the Amazon river” From “Atlas of the Voyage to Brazil,” 1823. 156 FIGURE 13-1. Daniel Velasco-Schwarzenberger, “Island Landscape,” 1999 160 FIGURE 13-2. Mark Dion, “Cabinet of Curiosity,” The Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, 1997. 161 FIGURE 13-3. Mark Dion, installation in the Carnegie International exhibition, Pittsburgh, PA, 1999 162 FIGURE 13-4. Mark Dion, installation in the Carnegie International exhibition, Pittsburgh, PA, 1999. 162 FIGURE 13-5. Image 5: Mark Dion, “The Delirium of Alfred Russel Wallace,” 1994 163 FIGURE 13-6. Mark Dion, Alexander von Humboldt (Amazon Memorial), 2000 163 FIGURE 13-7. Jose Alejandro Restrepo: “Humboldt’s Crocodile is Not Hegel’s,” the Montreal’s Musée d’art contemporain, September 2004. 164 FIGURE 13-8. Jose Alejandro Restrepo: “Humboldt’s Crocodile is Not Hegel’s,” the Montreal’s Musée d’art contemporain, September 2004. 165 FIGURE 13-9. Rachel Berwick, “May-por-é,” 1998-2004 166 FIGURE 13-10. Rachel Berwick, “May-por-é,” 1998-2004 166 FIGURE 22-1. 264 FIGURE 22-2. 265 FIGURE 22-3. 267 viii FIGURE 22-4. 268 FIGURE 22-5. 268 FIGURE 22-6. 270 FIGURE 22-7. 271 FIGURE 22-8. 271 FIGURE 22-9. 273 FIGURE 26-1. Frontispiece, Vues des Cordilléres. Paris: F. Schoell, 1810 328 FIGURE 26-2. Two illustrations from Vues des Cordilléres, Hill in the Puebla Valley, Mexico, Plate 34 and Boat on the Guayaquil River, Plate 63 328 FIGURE 26-3. Peruvian Monument at Canar, Plate 17, Vues des Cordilléres 329 FIGURE 26-4. Inca-Chungana, Plate 19, Vues des Cordilléres 330 FIGURE 26-5. Ponce Monolith and Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku 330 FIGURE 26-6. Kalassaya wall, Tiwanaku 331 FIGURE 26-7. Mt. Chimborazo, Plate 25, Vues des Cordilléres 332 FIGURE 26-8. Portrait of Alcide d’Orbigny 333 FIGURE 26-9. Drawing of the Gateway of the Sun, Alcide d’Orbigny 334 FIGURE 26-10. Head of a Colossal Statue and Details from the Gateway of the Sun, Alcide d’Orbigny 335 FIGURE 26-11. Men in a reed boat, Alcide d’Orbigny 335 FIGURE 26-12. Aymara Indians, La Paz, Alcide d’Orbigny 336 FIGURE 26-13. left: Michoacan dolls, from Vues des Cordilléres (detail); right: Indians from the Province of Chiquitos, Alcide d’Orbigny (detail) 336 FIGURE 26-14. Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku by Léonce Angrand 337 FIGURE 26-15. Tiwanaku, December 26, 1848 by Léonce Angrand 337 FIGURE 26-16. Rear view of the Gateway of the Sun, Léonce Angrand 338 FIGURE 26-17. Monolithic gateway at Tiwanaku, Léonce Angrand 339 FIGURE 26-18. left: Alcaldes at the Fiesta of the Conception, Léonce Angrand; right: detail from the Gateway of the Sun, Léonce Angrand 340 FIGURE 26-19. Scenes of local women, Léonce Angrand 340 FIGURE 26-20. Balsa boat, Léonce Angrand 341 FIGURE 26-21. Members of the French Scientific Mission, 1903 341 FIGURE 26-22. left: Statue discovered by the French Mission; right: Grand staircase, Tiwanaku 342 ix FIGURE 26-23. Discoveries of the French Mission, three small rooms to the west of the “grands alignments” 342 FIGURE 26-24. Rear view of the Gateway of the Sun, the French Mission 343 FIGURE 26-25. Gateway of the Sun. French Mission 344 FIGURE 27-1. Jan Witkiewicz in a Czarist army uniform. A lost portrait attributed to Walenty Wankowicz. Reproduced in Jan Reychman, Peleryna, ciupaga i znak tajemny, Cracow, 1976 346 FIGURE 27-2. Jan Witkiewicz in an Eastern costume. As Fig. 27-1 349 FIGURE 27-3. Jan Witkiewicz. Pencil sketch in the Tatras Museum, Zakopane. Photograph by K. Goradowska. 354 FIGURE 31-1. L’homme de la nature. 395 FIGURE 31-2. Colchicum autumnale 396 FIGURE 32-1. 417 FIGURE 32-2. 418 FIGURE 32-3. 418 FIGURE 32-4. 418 FIGURE 37-1. Freiberg in Saxony, a mining town where A.v. Humboldt studied at the Mining Academy and held his first post. 458 FIGURE 37-2. Top: Cotopaxi, considered by Humboldt the most beautiful of the Andean peaks. Bottom: Pichincha, as seen today from Quito airport. Humboldt climbed Pichincha several times and studied its volcanic activity. 459 FIGURE 37-3. Chimborazo. Humboldt reached his highest altitude here, developed his model of altutudinal plant zones, and considered the Paramo vegetation at Chimborazo impoverished. 461 FIGURE 37-4. Paramo flowers at Cotopaxi. 461 FIGURE 37-5. Popocatépetl. Humboldt did not visit Popocatépetl, but measured its height from Mexico City. The pines are Pinus hartwegii. 470 FIGURE 37-6. San Augustín de Callo, Humboldt’s headquarters at Cotopaxi. Today a tourist lodge, the hazienda is built onto the old Callo Palace of the Incas. Humboldt measured and described in detail the Inca Palace. 471 FIGURE 37-7. The Humboldt family’s Tegel Castle in Berlin. Top: The mansion. Bottom: The family cemetery, A.v. Humboldt’s final resting place. The column is in honor of A.v. Humboldt 472