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Robert Ker Porter (1777–1842), United Kingdom
Rounding Up Cattle on the Apurean Plains
, 1832
Watercolor and ink on paper
Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros

Completed while Porter was serving as British Consul to Venezuela, his two paintings render the country’s history of colonialism visible in the landscape. In Rounding Up Cattle on the Apurean Plains, Porter shows a mounted group of llaneros—mestizo herders who were known as excellent horsemen and soldiers and played a key role in the battles against the Spanish. In The Lake of Valencia, a body of water spanning the Carabobo and Aragua states, Porter has included in the lower right corner two figures in anachronistic dress who could represent Spanish conquistadors.

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