ONE OF HIS UNPUBLISHED WATERCOLORS

Water cart. Buenos Ayres. (1818) 1931.

Color engraving: “au pochoir”. Measurements: 21.1 x 28.9 cm. This is a copy of the first edition printed au Pochoir in Paris, hand-colored by J. Saudé and placed in its publisher's "passe-partout", executed by Harvard Fréres also from Paris. Print run of one hundred and fifty copies.

This is plate number 4 of the Album made by Alejo B. González Garaño, owner of the fifteen watercolors that make it up. The present, “Buenos Ayres. Water Cart. January 1818”, shows us the “aguatero” seated on the yoke, holding a macana in his right hand and a prod to drive the oxen in his left, directing the cart towards the river bank in search of the water that constitutes the merchandise of the. This watercolor is superior in character to the one that appeared in the book. The house that can be seen in the background is a good example of the architecture of those years.” [1]

These watercolors are really wonderful; Made with a special French system called “au pochoir”, they look original. In fact, we owe them to the outstanding bibliophile and collector Gonzalez Garaño who bought the 15 original watercolors in London owned by the Gore family, Counts of Arran - two of whose members were business managers for Great Britain in Buenos Aires during the time of Rosas. -- and found them so interesting and attractive that he decided to reproduce them exactly and in the same size for his friends. He finally commissioned a deluxe edition in Paris. Today the complete folders with the text and the fifteen plates are almost unfindable.

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