Conrad Wise Chapman (1842-1910)
The Valley of Mexico, the two volcanoes Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl beyond
signed and inscribed 'CWC Chapman [CWC in monogram] / MEXICO' (lower right)
oil on panel
8⁵⁄₈ x 16¹⁄₈in. (22 x 41cm.)
For a variant of this subject by Chapman, painted in 1876, see Christie's, London, 29 October 2019, lot 56. For a larger variant painted in 1894, see Christie's, New York, 20 Nov. 2002, lot 5 ('Valle de Mexico desde la Hacienda de Los Olivares de los Padres ...'). Chapman was commissioned by the Mancunian engineer and industrialist W.R. Jolly, Chapman's first patron in Mexico in 1866, to paint his tile factory, seen here behind the herd of goats, and the present view and the many other variants derive from this early commission in Mexico City. Ben L Bassham (author of Conrad Wise Chapman, Artist and Soldier of the Confederacy, 1998) has viewed the present lot and considers it 'a very fine example of his [Chapman's] Mexican landscapes'. This letter is included with the painting.

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