Johann Moritz Rugendas was a German painter and traveler. He was inspired to paint Central and South America by Alexander von Humboldt. He was hired as an illustrator by Baron von Langsdorff and accompanied him on expeditions in Brazil (1822-1825). He subsequently travelled to Mexico (1831-1834) and Chile (1834-1842). During the eight years Rugendas spent in Chile, he mainly depicted the people he met on his travels and their everyday lives.
Some of Rugendas’ works are housed at the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) and the Ethnological Museum (Berlin State Museums) of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

Material:

• 293 handwritten letters (Carmen Arigada de Guticke to Rugendas, 1834-1851, and letters from Rugendas to Clara Condarcos, circa 1843; published in Oscar Pinochet de la Barra’s “El gran amor de Rugendas” and in Gertrud Richert’s “La correspondencia del pintor alemán Juan Mauricio Rugendas”, in: Boletín de la Academia Chilena de la Historia, 1952, 47, pages 137-155)
• 2 typed transcripts of letters (Kubly to Rugendas, 1850)
• 1 family scrapbook (the Butsch family with 13 drawings by Rugendas, circa 1850)

Keywords: art history

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