PEDRO LIRA (1845-1912)
Cerro Escorial (5,451 m - 17, 884 ft)
Chile - Argentina border
In Paisaje con cordillera y vacunos, oil on canvas, 1899
Cerro Escorial (5,451 m - 17, 884 ft) is a stratovolcano at the border of Argentina and Chile. It is part of the Corrida de Cori volcanic group and its youngest member. A well-preserved 1-kilometre-wide (0.6 mi) crater forms its summit area. Lava flows are found on the Chilean and smaller ones on the Argentinian side, the former reaching as far as 3–4 kilometres (1.9–2.5 mi) from the volcano. One of these is dated 342,000 years ago by argon-argon dating.
A Plinian eruption on Escorial was the source of the dacitic Escorial ignimbrite. Pulsed changes in the magma supply during the eruption generated a radial ignimbrite structure which was deposited in various flows. The source magma underwent significant crustal contamination and contains quartz veins, indicating that the ignimbrite interacted with a buried hydrothermal system. Lithic clasts including basement material are also present. The ignimbrite has a volume of about 0.6 cubic kilometres (0.14 cu mi) and was erupted 460,000±10,000 years ago.
A sulfur mine lies 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) southwest of Escorial. Mining ceased about 1983.
The painter
Pedro Francisco Lira Rencoret known as Pedro Lira was a Chilean painter and art critic, best known for his eclectic portraits of women ans a few landscapes.
He lived in France from 1873 to 1884 and was influenced by Eugène Delacroix, many of whose paintings he copied. Later, he received an "honorable mention" at the Salon, where little recognition was generally given to Latin American artists. But, despite his successes, he decided to return to Chile, as the time appeared ripe to create an artistic milieu comparable to that in Paris.
Soon after his arrival, he organized the first exposition devoted exclusively to Chilean painters. Together with the sculptor José Miguel Blanco, he founded the "Unión Artística", an organization devoted to promoting more exhibitions and, ultimately, creating the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Chile, which was originally located on the second floor of the National Congress Building. He also created a Salon, similar to the one in Paris, and helped establish a museum in the Quinta Normal, where expositions were held until 1910.
In 1892, he was appointed Director of the "Escuela de Bellas Artes", a position he held until his death. While there, he was a mentor for promising new artists. Among the best known painters whose careers he supported are Pablo Burchard, Pedro Reszka Moreau and Celia Castro, the first Chilean woman to become a notable artist. He also compiled Chile's first "Biographical Dictionary of Painters" and translated Hippolyte Taine's Philosophy of Art. Several historical paintings of his have been used on Chilean banknotes.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
