1
THE ATLAS OF CLAUDE GAY AND THE REPRESENTATION OF CHILE1
Rafael Sagredo Baeza2
The present paper aims basically to explain why Claude Gay compiled his Atlas
de la Historia Física y Política de Chile, describe some of the events that occurred in the
process, and, especially, explicate the significance of this work. To this end, some
particulars are given on the career and work of the naturalist in Chile, and on incidents
connected with the publication of his Historia, all of which will provide a view of the
effort that went into a cultural enterprise that we believe was central to the process by
which the Chilean nation was formed.
Considered an inestimable source of the historic trajectory of this nation as well as
a magnificent testimony of the natural circumstances of this country in the 19th century,
the Atlas de la Historia Física y Politica de Chile contains a collection of 315 plates
selected by the French naturalist among more than 3,000 drawings that he executed on
site in the course of the mission entrusted to him by the Chilean government in the 1830s.
1
The present paper, with appropriate modifications, is part of a lengthier text that will appear in the reedition of Gay´s Atlas, scheduled to appear in Santiago, Chile in 2010. The translation of this paper was
prepared by María Teresa Escobar B.
2
Academic at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Curator of Sala Medina, Biblioteca Nacional de
Chile.
2
The prints cover historical, cultural, and geographic subjects in addition to
reproductions of animal, vegetable, and mineral species, and Gay prepared them because
he felt they were essential to understand and study the geography and natural history of
Chile. Thus, although an integral part of his monumental Historia, the plates per se
furnish first-class testimony of the cultural and natural development of this South
American country. They compose an eloquent repertory of images representing what
Chile was like in the early decades of the republic, encompassing its material, natural,
and cultural circumstances, as well as its deeply-rooted customs, mentality, values, and
ways reflected there.
Gay´s Atlas, for the first time in Chile and as had never happened before, put forth
the forcefulness of images as an instrument for dissemination of knowledge. Not only of
scientific knowledge, but also of the nature and physiognomy of a society as revealed
through the representation of its own social models and environments, its work and
characteristic amusements.
Expansion of the categories used to examine and understand the past has made of
Gay´s plates a major historical source illustrating habits and customs, Chilean types, and
a wide variety of topics associated with daily life in towns and countryside. In addition,
and as a result of growing interest in conservation of the environment and evolution of
ecosystems in the territory, the Atlas plates provide a record of the greatest interest for the
study of natural history. Furthermore, to the value of Gay’s work per se should be added
3
the example of rigorous research often conducted under the most adverse conditions, and
unwavering resolution, in the midst of countless difficulties, to make known the fruits of
his scientific labours. Both facts bear witness to an entire life devoted to science, one of
its not inconsiderable merits being the fact of acquainting the world with the existence of
Chile.3
Claude Gay in Chile
According to his main biographers, the arrival of Claude Gay in Chile in early
December, 1828, resulted from his having been retained as a teacher at Colegio de
Santiago, where classes were scheduled to begin in March, 1829. The naturalist, who was
to become famous for his explorations in Chile, was born in March, 1800 in Draguignan,
department of the Var, in Provence, to a family of small rural landowners.4
Having completed his early education, Gay arrived in Paris around 1820 to pursue
higher studies in medicine and pharmacy. His interest in the pursuit of science, however,
was stronger than professional practice and he began to attend public courses in natural
science at the Museum of Natural History and the Sorbonne. At that time he took
advantage of his holidays to go on herborising excursions outside France or to perform
missions entrusted to him by the Museum. He travelled through Switzerland, part of the
Alps, the north of Italy, a part of Greece, some islands in the Mediterranean, and the
north of Asia Minor During his years in Paris (1821-1828), in addition to botany and
entomology, his favourite subjects, Gay also studied physics and chemistry, followed
some time later by courses in geology and comparative anatomy. His knowledge was
vast and varied, and he took up scientific research under eminent teachers.
The details of the origin of Claude Gay´s interest in Chile and his journey to
South America are still largely uncertain, although we know that his arrival was the direct
result of his having accepted an offer from Pedro Chapuis, newspaperman and
adventurer, who was in Paris in 1828 organising a group of teachers in order to set up a
school in Santiago. Years later, as he was beginning his monumental work, Gay said that
3
In writing this paper we have relied on the main publications on Claude Gay and his work. To avoid
including a large number of references that would make for difficult reading, we advise that Gay´s
correspondence together with writings and documents connected with him and his scientific work are to be
found in the works by Guillermo Feliú Cruz and Carlos Stuardo Ortiz listed in the sources and
bibliography.
4
Carlos Stuardo Ortiz, professor of natural science, is responsible for the most thorough research on
Claude Gay. His posthumous book, Vida de Claudio Gay. Escritos y documentos contains reproductions of
numerous writings of or about Gay, or concerning his work in Chile.
4
his teachers in Paris had told him that Chile was the most appropriate place to satisfy the
demands of an inordinate curiosity to investigate the nature of some distant clime that did
not appear too well travelled. He followed this advice and at once began to take note of
what little had been written about the history and geography of this part of America.
In addition to his private motivations, we must not overlook the fact that for the
scientific environment of Paris in the 1820s, “among the countries that it would be
interesting to explore in the interests of Natural History, Peru and Chile may be placed in
the front rank, in every sense”, because the part of southern America where these vast
expanses lie has not been visited yet save by a handful of travellers, whose explorations –
scanty as they are- took place in the far distant past.”5
Once settled in Santiago, Claude Gay, while teaching at Colegio de Santiago,
found time to travel to various places and collect scientific specimens; very soon he had
formed collections of plants, animals, and rocks.
Feeling more enthusiasm for his expeditions than for his classes, while at the same
time revealing the true motives that had brought him to Chile, on December 9 Gay wrote
to Adolphe Brogniard that although he could spend only one day in each week in the
interests of science and that, especially at the beginning of his sojourn, he could only visit
the environs of Santiago or take a quick trip to the seacoast or the mountains, he had
already completed a number of observations that would suffice to make known these
lands so sadly neglected by naturalists.
The zeal and passion that Gay showed for natural history, as expressed in his
tireless activity and dedication to study, came to the notice of the authorities, who had
been thinking of having a scientific study made of the country, a long-standing aspiration
that had failed to materialize for lack of a competent person to undertake it. In the early
days of republican organization in Chile, when everything was still to done, several
government authorities had been fully conscious of the need to acquire full scientific
knowledge of the territory and the actual circumstances of the nation. There were no
reliable maps at the time; little was known of the exact position of towns and major
geographic features; no one had made a systematic study of natural species, much less
undertaken to explore geological characteristics or describe accurately the climactic
conditions in the environments where the republic was beginning to take shape.6
5
Letter from the Administration of the Museum of Natural History of Paris to the Chilean Minister of the
Interior dated 25 November, 1825 and inspired by the expectation that the naturalist Alcide d’Orbigny
would travel to South America on a scientific mission. Quoted by Pascual Riviale in his book Los viajeros
franceses en busca del Perú antiguo (1821-1914), p. 34.
6
Undoubtedly, republican concern for knowing more about the territories over which sovereignty was
beginning to be exercised was closely linked to, and sprang from, the enlightened spirit that had prevailed
on European powers during the 18th century to organize, fund, and promote scientific expeditions to
5
In July 1830, encouraged by his friends, Claude Gay wrote a presentation
addressed to the Vice President of the Republic, in which he offered his services to work
in preparing a natural, general, and particular history of Chile; a physical and descriptive
geography; a geology that would reveal the composition of every terrain, the rock
structure and direction of mineral deposits; and complete statistics of the population and
productive activities. In addition, the scientist engaged to set up a natural history
collection containing most of the species produced in the republic, with their common
and their scientific names, and a collection as complete as possible of all stones and
minerals he was able to collect; to make chemical analyses of all mineral springs he
might find; to draw up statistical tables of every province; to compile a catalogue of all
mines; to draw maps of major towns and rivers, and of all large landholdings he might
visit; and, lastly, if the government so wished, to instruct two students in all the sciences
to which he was devoted. In other words, Gay committed to a monumental undertaking
that would take up nearly all his life.
In exchange for his endeavours, which, he claimed, could only be published in
Europe, the naturalist requested support to continue his research and government
sponsorship for the works he proposed. He was prepared to have a committee appointed
to inspect what he had done so far and the work he intended to undertake, and to show
the means at his disposal for continuing his studies.
A crucial element in the decision that the government eventually made was the
work that Gay had already done in Chile, which proved his talents as a naturalist. As the
scientist himself pointed out, and his sponsors knew it, in one year he had been able to
investigate the natural history and geology of the territory surrounding Santiago; describe
and paint most of the objects related to such territory; draw maps of the capital city and
geographic charts of the territory; analyse the mineral waters of Apoquindo; compile
statistics of nearly all the administrations; and, lastly, explore part of the central coast and
the mountains opposite Santiago. Thus, he wrote in his presentation, he had no more
work to do in Santiago and was ready to begin investigating the provinces.
As payment for his services, Gay did not ask the government for a high salary nor
many favours, “but only protection vis-a-vis the provincial authorities and necessary
expenses for the travels that my investigations will require.”
Given the above, it is not surprising that Diego Portales, Minister of the Interior,
was authorized in September 1830 to execute an agreement with Gay sanctioning the
American lands and shores, in pursuit, among other things, of obtaining from them economic advantages.
On the subject, see Rafael Sagredo, “Las expediciones científicas del siglo XVIII y la Independencia de
América”, in Estudios Coloniales I.
6
scientific expedition to the territory. The grounds given included both the importance of
the effort and Gay´s qualifications to carry out the enterprise advantageously for Chile.
Under the agreement executed on September 14, 1830, Gay was bound to go on a
scientific expedition covering the entire territory of the republic and lasting three and a
half years, for the purpose of investigating Chile´s natural history, geography, geology,
statistics, and everything that would contribute to describe the natural products of the
country, its industry, commerce, and administration. Moreover, in the fourth year, he
was to submit an outline of the following works: a general natural history of the republic
containing a description of nearly all the animals, vegetables, and minerals, supported by
colour plates appropriate to the subjects described; a physical and descriptive geography
of Chile, with observations of the climate and temperature of each province, supported by
geographic charts of each province, plates and maps of major towns, ports, and rivers; a
treaty on geology relative to Chile; and general and particular statistics of the republic by
province. He further engaged to organize a natural history collection with the main
vegetable and mineral products of the territory and a catalogue of all mineral springs in
the country with their respective analyses.
Considering that one of the purposes of the Chilean government when entrusting
Gay with the mission that he engaged to perform was to “disclose the wealth of the
territory of the republic, encourage industriousness among its inhabitants and attract that
of foreigners,” the scientist further engaged to publish his work three years after
completing his undertaking. Gay would receive one hundred twenty-six pesos per month
for the following four years; the instruments for geographic observations; a reward
amounting to three thousand pesos if he accomplished what was promised; and the
assurance of the authorities that a circular letter would be sent to all intendentes of
7
provinces, governors of towns, and territorial judges, directing them to furnish all the
information required for the best accomplishment of his commission.7
Having completed the administrative procedures and necessary preparations for
starting the scientific expedition, Claude Gay made ready to begin exploration of the
national territory, a task he pursued between 1830 and 1841, with brief interludes
resulting from a trip to Europe to purchase appropriate instruments and books, and
another to Peru to consult archives.
In carrying out his commission, Gay developed a pattern of behaviour to which he
adhered strictly during his expeditions and which accounts for the final success of his
scientific undertaking. At every place he visited or where he travelled, he proceeded to
examine and study the natural species, collecting specimens of any that interested him.
7
It is not idle to remark that the steps towards retaining Gay were taken almost exactly following the visit
to Chile of the naturalist Alcide d’Orbigny. He had been commissioned by the Museum of Natural History
of Paris to undertake a scientific mission that lasted from 1826 to 1833 and led him to explore Brazil,
Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. The author of Voyage dans l’Amérique méridionale landed
at Valparaiso on February 16, 1830 and left from there on April 8 after visiting Santiago. He stayed in the
capital of Chile for only eight days, during which he not only explored the environs and met a number of
people, but also went climbing in the Andes in the company of Claude Gay. When he was leaving Chile,
d’Orbigny received through the French consul in Valparaiso a letter from general Santa Cruz, then
president of Bolivia, inviting him to investigate the natural riches of that altiplano country and offering, as
indeed happened, to secure all the necessary facilities for his explorations and studies. In his monumental
work published between 1835 and 1847, in nine volumes and eleven sections, d’Orbigny tells that his brief
stay in Chile did not allow him “to generalize my observations, which obliges me to gloss over what I
might say about Chile”, adding that “in any event, I would not wish to usurp the right to describe it that his
long residence in the Republic of Chile grants monsieur Gay.”
8
He was always careful to herborise and to observe plant life adaptation in the high
mountains. Accurate setting of the position of geographic features with the aid of
modern instruments purchased in Europe also absorbed his attention. Geology surveys
and mapping the area visited was another ongoing concern. Where hot springs rose he
analysed the water to record, among other data, whether it was sulphurous or saline.
Compiling statistics, collecting documents and all manner of information on the land and
settlements he visited were other characteristic activities. Lastly, his observations of
climates and his meteorological measurements, together with others designed to
determine the earth´s magnetism, were also constant activities.
During sedentary periods, the naturalist would organise, classify, describe, draw,
lay out, and package the species and objects collected, draft scientific reports for the
Chilean government and continue his correspondence with European colleagues whom he
kept up to date in detail on his studies and the novelties he discovered as he travelled
across the country.
In his travels Gay not only had to endure adversities of all kinds resulting from
the dearth of lines of communication or adequate accommodation, he also suffered from
the extreme climatic conditions in some areas.
Passionately devoted to science, during each of his expeditions he kept faithfully
to his commitment, developing to the utmost his observations, measurements, collections,
9
and studies.8 Even while beset by budgetary limitations, internal political unrest, or the
War against the Peru-Bolivia Confederation, Gay carried out his commission patiently,
systematically, all but anonymously, laying the foundations for Chile’s scientific
development, a task that though lacking in spectacular or striking events was of crucial
significance for the development of the nation. The mission concluded, only one far from
minor task remained, that of disseminating the fruits of his research across the national
territory by means of a publication.9
Publication of the work
According to the document in which he offered his services to the Chilean
government in 1830, Gay had chosen Chile as the scene of his investigations “not only
for the riches of its soil and the variety of its climate, but also because it was a country
absolutely unknown to naturalists.”
Gay´s words were justified for although more than one expedition of a scientific
nature had come to the territory of the Kingdom of Chile during the Colonial period, the
most important one being led by Alejandro Malaspina from 1789 to 1794, the fact is that
in the early 1830s their findings remained largely unpublished and unknown to European
scientists. Ignorance of Chile was aided by the fact that such expeditions as that of
Alexander von Humboldt, who through his publications gave widespread renown to the
natural and cultural circumstances of a considerable portion of the American continent,
failed to reach this area. Charles Darwin visited and travelled across the country in the
early 1830s; his objectives, however, differed widely from those of Gay, as evidenced in
his writings following his voyage in the Beagle.
Having completed the stage of on-site investigation,Gay had to face the
responsibilities involved in publishing the fruit of years of work. Before returning to
France he stayed in Chile for two more years collecting yet more material on the country,
8
Claude Gay was also responsible for organizing the Museum of Natural History in Santiago. He was its
first Director and it was the recipient of the collections he obtained and of the numerous objects and species
that he sent from Europe after his return to France.
9
It is worth noting that Gay was not alone in his work across the country. In addition to the authorities of
each province and other individuals he occasionally mentions in his scientific reports, in the prologue to the
Historia he refers to “the many people who came with me and collected the large number of plants,
animals, and minerals that I intend for a very comprehensive treaty on the natural history of Chile. I owe
thanks to those intelligent assistants for by saving me such material work I could resolutely devote my
energies to the research.” A systematic study of the scientist´s Chilean assistants, non-existent to date, far
from detracting from his merits, might contribute an unknown chapter to the task of scientific training that
Gay carried out in Chile.
10
classifying and distributing the objects he had collected, and organizing the Museum of
Natural History. At that time, too, he wrote the Prospecto of his Historia física y política
de Chile, which was published in the official newspaper, El Araucano, on January 29,
1841. This piece, in addition to summarizing the scientific activities undertaken with
government sponsorship, argued in favour of the proposed publication, both for the
benefit it would bring and for the urgent need to disseminate the fruit of his scientific
labour to the advantage of the inhabitants of Chile.
The proposal explained that the work on Chile would be divided into several
sections, i.e. flora, fauna, mining and geology, terrestrial and meteorological physics,
statistics, geography, history, and customs and uses of the Araucanians. All these various
subjects would be printed in fascicles of 136 pages, four of which together would form
one volume. The plan, however, did not stop at identifying and describing the collected
species and objects, and completing the studies prepared according to the original idea.
Gay had a very clear notion that his texts needed to be supported by “a large number of
plates in colour,” not only of the animals, plants and remains that the natural world would
supply; also “with plates of views, clothing, and maps of major cities”, that is, with
drawings illustrating the society and the people.
11
To justify the inclusion of what he styles maps, drawings, and designs in his
Historia Física y Política, Gay points out that a work like his “cannot lack for prints,
which are unavoidably necessary for the description of certain phenomena to be
understood and to aid the study of everything that concerns geography and natural
history.” Therefore he explains, “from the moment that I undertook the task I felt the
need for such a collection and, although my numerous occupations took up nearly all my
time, that has not prevented me from making drawings of the living objects.”
Gay’s concern for leaving a graphic record of his studies was present from the
beginning of his work. Further to what might be termed didactical reasons, it was
scientific need that led him to make his drawings. Indeed, a significant number of the
species collected were very difficult to preserve and describe owing to their delicate
structure and brilliant colouring, which necessitated drawing and painting them in all
their natural freshness. At one point he wrote, referring to certain species collected in
Chiloé: “I had to paint them from life and describe them in detail at the same time so as
to reveal them in all their beauty.”10
This desire to leave a graphic representation of his research, as Gay declares in his
Prospecto, led to “an immense accumulation of designs that already numbered well over
3,000” and he offered to select “the most interesting ones, which”, he foresaw, “touched
up by our good genre painters and engraved by our ablest engravers, would form a
collection with the twofold merit of having been drawn from living nature and of
belonging to a single botanical and zoological area, thus aiding the study of this beautiful
part of scientific knowledge.” The accuracy of Gay’s drawings was supported by the fact
that he had left Chile “only after having traversed it for eleven years without respite and
with the satisfaction of leaving practically no region unexplored.”
In 1841, when he proposed his work, the naturalist believed that the set of
drawings “perfectly engraved and illuminated” might fill three or four volumes, plus
another one devoted exclusively to geography. So, together with the general map of the
republic, he offered “a special one of each province” and, in addition, a map of physical
geography containing “more than 5,000 heights of mountains and plains taken throughout
the territory; geological, botanical, and zoological maps, a number of maps of cities and
ports with some views or landscapes of Chile, and a small number of prints about
Araucanian customs.”
10
By the 18th century exact procedures had been adopted on the correct way to represent plants and which
parts of plants required more attention as aids to identification. Thus, as Gay showed in his plates, the
standard layout of a descriptive drawing was to show the complete plant, including roots, stem, leaves,
flowers, and fruit, if any, in the centre of the plate, while details of flower and fruit structures were shown
in one corner. The model was based on the scientific trends of the period and followed the classification of
Linnaeus, which was based on the sexual organs of plants: stamen and pistils. For this reason, drawings of
such organs were particularly precise.
12
Undoubtedly, at the time of working out his idea, he never thought of the
countless obstacles that the publication would have to face and that obviously prevented
him from carrying out his original plans for the plates intended to go in the various
volumes of his text on Chile.
In spite of the worries caused by funding for the work, and thanks to his energy
and perseverance, in December 1841 Gay had the texts and plates to begin printing the
first instalment of the Historia. That was when Francisco Javier Rosales, Chilean chargé
d’affaires in Paris, reported to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Chile on the progress of
the cultural undertaking, stating that he had seen the text, that the first fascicle would be
out shortly, and that Gay had promised to make an effort to publish two fascicles each
month as from the following year. Finally, the first fascicle containing 130 pages left the
press in March 1844.
With undisguised satisfaction, Gay hastened to send three copies to Chile. One
was addressed to H.E. the President of the Republic and reached President Manuel Montt
with a letter dated March 24, 1844, advising him that “I have given my full care to the
plates and I can assure Your Excellency that to date nothing better has ever been done in
works of this nature, and in the opinion of some authors . . .few equal it, even though the
plates may have suffered a little from the great hurry that the colourists had to show in
order to catch the ship that is taking them.” The prints that the writer referred to were
five: one of Valparaíso, two of zoology, and one of botany, and with them the portrait of
Her Catholic Majesty, Queen Isabella of Spain. All the plates except the portrait, which
was small in size as it was intended to go in the book, were in large format and belonged
in the set that would finally make up the Atlas.
The following instalments of the publication underwent various mishaps arising
from Gay´s unhappy married life, lack of funds, tardy compliance on the part of his
assistants, as well as from the difficulties caused by the work of engraving and printing
the plates, which more than once held up the presses. On one occasion, in fact, he
regretted “not having included in the work only a small number of plates and, above all,
not making them in a more modest way and not so well finished”, thus cutting costs.
Slowly but systematically, however, overcoming all annoyances, vanquishing all
obstacles, between 1844 and 1871 the successive instalments appeared that would
eventually make up his monumental work.
On September 1856, having completed practically all his volumes, Gay wrote
another letter to President Montt, reporting that he was giving “the finishing touches to
the great undertaking that has kept me busy at least ten hours a day for the past 25 years”
and thanking him for “the active part you have taken in this publication and the interest
you have always shown in it.” Proudly, he values his work and his career, recalling that
13
in the midst of a solitary life, “all scientific honours have come to me, whether as
laureate, or as chairman of scientific societies, and last year the Institut de France,”
invited him to join the Botany Section of the illustrious French Academy of Sciences in
the place left vacant by Charles-Franςois Brisseau de Mirbel. His merits to deserve such
high honour were manifest essentially in his Historia Física y Política de Chile, which
eventually filled 28 volumes: eight on history, another eight on botany, eight also for
zoology, two of documents, two on agriculture. In addition, the two volumes of plates of
the Atlas.
According to the Chilean historian Diego Barros Arana,11 the plates entitled Atlas
de la Historia Física y Política de Chile were executed as follows: one lithographed
portrait of Minister Diego Portales; one stone-engraved general map of Chile; 12 regional
maps and 8 miscellaneous maps also stone-engraved; 2 lithographed plates of Chilean
archaeological remains; 52 views of places, customs, social types, and national costumes
from drawings by Gay or sketches by other artists; 103 steel engravings depicting the
main plants growing in Chile; and 154 plates of zoology, of which 26 are lithographs, the
remaining 108 are steel engravings.
The value of Gay´s graphic work is best appreciated when, as the mere view of
the plates on the animal and vegetable world shows, the prints exhibit not only a
specimen of each genus but also the details of the characteristic feature of each. Most of
the plates show more than one species or object, many contain two or three plants or
animals, in most cases even more than that. This explains why the eminent French
zoologist Henri Milne Edwards, in his review of the section on zoology presented to the
Academy of Science in Paris, was moved to say that the work as a whole was a precious
acquisition for entomology in general and for the natural history of Chile in particular.
Though from their characteristics, all the plates in the Atlas implied systematic
and careful work, the geographic charts were without a doubt the most difficult and
demanding. With the maps in mind, Gay had collected all manner of relevant data in the
course of his travels in Chile. He had determined with considerable accuracy the
astronomical position of places, followed the course of many rivers, explored mountain
ranges, climbed high peaks, and determined as closely as possible the height of numerous
mountains.
By the time his expeditions came to an end, he possessed the most accurate and
abundant information for compiling a true geography of Chile. In addition, in Europe he
obtained the hydrographic charts of the southern coast of America drawn up by the
11
Diego Barros Arana (1830-1907), educator, historian, and statesman, author of Historia General de
Chile, in 16 volumes, and numerous other works on a wide range of subjects. In the course of his life he
was rector of Instituto Nacional, represented the Chilean government abroad, founded several newspapers,
was rector of Universidad de Chile, among other high public responsibilities.
14
British. With all this material and relying on the information about the coastlines in the
British maps, he drew the topography of the interior of Chile based on the routes of his
travels and his own observations.
Nevertheless, Gay speaks modestly of the value of his maps. In his letter of
September 15, 1856 to President Montt, he explains that when he began to draw them up
in the course of his travels across Chile, he did it with the greatest care of which he was
capable, but that perceiving that geographic charts demanded an extremely long time, to
the detriment of his research, he had opted for collecting information by means of a
compass, observing latitudes and distance for his coordinates. As a result, his charts
showed the position of towns, villages, rivers and other geographic occurrences “from a
relative point of view.”
The naturalist justified his method declaring “that I was all the more convinced
that it was correct because at the time this procedure was the only one I needed to follow,
for as accurate as my maps might be, this would not have prevented the government from
having them remade, should administrative requirements so demanded.” Adding further
that works such as those mentioned are always open to improvement and it would be the
task of geographers to give a more precise idea of each province, although they should
nonetheless “thank me for having considerably simplified their task.”
Barros Arana observes that Gay worked on his maps with infinite patience, which
made for a satisfactory result. According to the distinguished historian, “Gay´s maps,
which are quite good as sets of geographic data, deserve to be described as excellent if
we consider the state in which the knowledge of the geography of our territory then was.”
Gay´s Atlas and Chile´s natural and cultural heritage
As a graphic representation of the nation, the plates in the Atlas offer a veritable
record of Chile’s natural and cultural heritage; for various reasons, however, it has not
been duly appreciated or therefore utilized. Indeed, since its publication in the 19th
century to date, with the few exceptions noted, the greater part of Gay´s plates have
remained hidden from view in the few existing copies of the original editions.
15
The first edition of the two volumes of the Atlas de la Historia Física y Política
de Chile was published in 1854. For the most part, the books appeared with their colour
plates, although a few came out with black-and-white illustrations.12
In the context of republican evolution, Claude Gay´s effort has the added merit of
being one of the essential elements in the process of outlining an image of Chile and thus
of consolidating a sense of nationality.13 His work is indeed the first to describe the
natural life of the country with scientific method and rigour. This fact, added to the
progress of professional education and training of men capable of undertaking a reliable
study of nature, and the creation of an agency responsible for collecting and
disseminating statistical information, resulted in the consolidation of an idea of Chile that
to a considerable extent accounts for the actions of public and private players, especially
in the latter third of the 19th century.14
Despite criticism and objections raised to the Historia Física y Política de Chile,
for it does present gaps and limitations, the truth is that it has been an unavoidable
reference work, the indispensable starting point for new research and necessary reference
for anyone delving since then into the study of nature, geography, and history of Chile.
The great value of the work done by Claude Gay is fully realised when we
consider, as historian Sergio Villalobos has done, that “since then Chile possessed a
reliable source of information on its history, as well as the flora and fauna, studied with
scientific and modern method.” Not unreasonably, Carlos Stuardo Ortiz and Guillermo
Feliú Cruz stated that in the history of literary as well as scientific development in Chile,
Claude Gay fills a most outstanding place: as a man of science, “he made known the
physical and natural conditions of a virgin territory.”
Until recently, and disregarding the wishes of Gay himself, who conceived them
as an essential instrument for understanding the matters he dealt with in his book, the
prints in the Atlas were not considered an integral part of his texts or a means for
studying a particular subject. Rather, they were seen as an artistic ornament of the larger
work, which was the Historia. Notwithstanding, the plates are scientifically valuable in
their own right and scholars examining and analysing them are furnished with manifold
projections.
12
Using prints left over from the original edition, Gay made copies, now very rare, that he presented to
some of his closest friends and collaborators under the title Album d ‘un Voyage dans la république du
Chili par Claude Gay, also dated in 1854. Following these editions, Gay issued a second edition of
Volumes I and II, this time made up of almost all black-and-white plates.
13
Luis Mizón, in his book Claude Gay y la formación de la identidad cultural chilena, underlines Gay´s
contribution in the overall constellation of foreigners who visited Chile in the course of the entire 19th
century, all of whom –he claims- were part of a cultural project addressed to forming the national identity.
14
See Rafael Sagredo, “La ‘idea’ geográfica de Chile en el siglo XIX.”
16
This notion survived in part owing to the obscurity in which the contents of the
plates remained, among other reasons because the two volumes of the Atlas were scarce
and close to inaccessible. Another reason, however, lay in the scant value then attached
to images as an historical source, especially in the social sciences and the humanities. In
addition, the lack of awareness of environmental history or of concern for the changes
caused in nature by human beings did nothing to favour scientific interest for the records
of species and objects that Gay provides in his plates and texts.
Obviously, the sheer extent of such a work and the financial difficulties arising
from reproduction of the plates precluded not only appreciation and understanding of
their place in the general context of Gay´s work, but also dissemination and esteem as
records of a natural and social past, non-existent or evidently transformed today.
Simple observation of the prints and their subjects give an idea of the potential
they hold for the study of the national past. To begin with, there are the fifteen maps
depicting the various provinces and some of the major geographical landmarks of the
territory. The very existence of these maps, in addition to aiding the history of Chilean
cartography and teaching us the political and administrative form of the young republic,
proves the significance that the government at the time attached to geographic
information, together with the weight that Gay assigned to them for better comprehension
of his work. There can be no other reason why Gay included these charts and
emphasized in them certain specific accidents, e.g. the Straits of Magellan, the islands of
Juan Fernández, or the Chonos archipelago, all geographic items of the greatest
importance at the time, as we infer from their inclusion in the Atlas. Moreover, the
presence of the first image in the form of a giant plate that must be unfolded for viewing
and that Gay titles “Mapa para la inteligencia de la Historia Física y Política de Chile”,
representing the entire country, is proof of Gay´s desire to show a full view of Chile as it
was then, by means of an image in extenso, in spite of the difficulties that have always
attended any cartographic representation of the territory of Chile owing to its great
longitudinal extension.
The importance of this map of Chile may be seen from several angles. First of all,
for its value as a cartographic representation of the territory at a time when such
representations were practically non-existent and at best unreliable. Precisely because
Gay sought to give assurance of the accuracy that his map could provide, he placed a note
in one corner saying that the map had been prepared on the basis of Spanish and British
charts “drawn up in the past few years.” Next, because the map furnishes the view
current in Chile in the 19th century on the spaces comprised in its territory. Indeed, the
map shows only the territory lying between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, from the
Atacama desert to the island of Chiloé, albeit –it is true- with an added box showing the
Straits of Magellan and adjacent land. In other words, this is Chile -as it was then-
17
unaware of the inhospitable deserts at either end and totally restricted to the narrow space
that the Andes leave open before they reach the sea.
The map, however, together with the Colonial roads or the “royal highway” as
Gay styles it, also shows the route followed in Chile by the naturalist himself, prima facie
evidence that his work was the fruit of exploration, investigation in the field and therefore
proof of seriousness and scientific rigour. A comparison between the royal or main
highway and the trails followed by Gay shows that he did not keep only to the more
accessible places and regions but went beyond them in his desire to reconnoitre and
describe the nascent republic.
Finally, the map shows the trails that allowed “crossing the mountains”, in the
direction of the “Republic of the Plata” as well as in the interior of the country,
undoubtedly a fundamental aid to traffic in products and goods, and movement of
persons.
In terms of the geographic notion of Chile, it is interesting to see that the maps of
the provinces of Cauquenes, Talca, Colchagua, Santiago, and Valparaíso, particularly the
first three, show the provinces extending in an east-west, rather than north-south,
direction. In Chile then in the process of organization and national consolidation, Gay
observes that spatial planning in certain areas still adhered to horizontal or transverse
axes marked by the course of the rivers flowing from the mountains to the sea. These
boundaries support and organize a form of regional space still untouched by the process
of territorial unification of State and nation which, as we know, was later to dismember
the horizontal regional lines in favour of a single vertical north-south axis, one expression
of which was to be the longitudinal railway, undoubtedly a geographic manifestation of
the consolidation and authority of the centralized government over the territory, thus of a
consolidated nation.
18
Mapas de las provincias de Concepción y Cauquenes
Volume I of the Atlas further contains four maps of ports and harbours in Chile,
some of the most important, such as Valparaíso and Constitución, for their strategic value
as well as for the traffic that flowed through them. The map of Santiago illustrates the
leading role that the city had played since its foundation and that Gay also reflected in the
details of the map.
Inclusion of the map of the battle of Maipú, which sealed Chilean independence,
shows that behind the selection of illustrations there was a conscious decision to
underscore milestones in the nation´s history, consistent with the image of the country
present in the minds of Chileans at the time. The foregoing also explains perhaps the
presence of a plate depicting the “Prison of Juan Fernández”, which Gay visited in 1837.
It was a place of imprisonment for some of the patriots who had fought for independence
and the plate recalls the rigours that the leading élite had to undergo, and must have
described to Gay as an inescapable sacrifice on the altar of liberty. By recalling
graphically one aspect of the severe ordeal that the leaders of the local aristocracy had to
go through in order to become free men, the plate exalts these men as a distinguished
section of society, further accurately reflecting Chilean feelings at the time.
Claude Gay´s sensitivity to plumb the depths of the object of his study also
accounts for his having placed the portrait of Diego Portales immediately following the
map of Chilean territory. Portales was the organizer of the republic and the portrait shows
the all-powerful minister, at the head of the nation that Gay was so proudly exhibiting to
the world by means of his illustrations. It is the exaltation of the civilian and legal model,
in disparagement of the military heroes of the independence; a way to represent
institutional order, the rule of law which since then and for prolonged periods of Chile’s
development, characterized the republican evolution of the nation.
19
Aware of the importance of pictures, Claude Gay includes in his Atlas forty-six
plates that give an idea of the condition of a specific population, the beauty of a natural
landscape, or the description of a historically significant event, e.g. a parley in Araucanía
or the great Valparaíso fire. They are all precious testimonies of original cultures, such
as the pictures of archaeological remains, or urban views and natural habitats, perhaps
non-existent today. They also show customs, ways of life, habits, agricultural and mining
work, means of transportation, dresses, amusements, and social types now extinct.
Archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and ethnohistorians, and other students of the
Chilean past will find in these plates abundant material to enrich our cultural heritage
thanks to the possibilities for analysis they carry.
In general, the plates of towns, customs, and landscapes show not only that Gay
traversed different regions of the country but especially that he was able to single out the
main activities, concerns, historical milestones, habits, characteristics, festivities, and
distinctive aspects of the country that he travelled, studied, described, and represented.
In the one he titled “Huasco” we see conviviality among the symbols of
modernity, like the steamship, which were then beginning to come to the Chilean coast,
and the remains of a pre-Columbian past that still survived as portrayed by the use of
sealskin rafts. The Colonial style of loading export cargo, which was to continue for a
long time, is also present and the simple, not to say precarious, nature of life in the desert.
20
The plates that depict landscapes and places typical of the Near North, e.g.
“Guanta”, “Cogoti”, and “Chalinga”, show the junction between mining, so characteristic
of the area, and farming, restricted to the valleys where water was available.
Undoubtedly, and again reflecting the mentality of the country it was his task to study,
Gay to some extent idealizes the agricultural landscape and represents a vegetation and
environment more appropriate to the valleys of the central area than to the arid and dry
northern soil. Be that as it may, there the miners are, the foundries and nitrate mills, next
to the tilled fields and groups of trees, all surrounded by hills devoid of all vegetation.
Whereas in the plates drawn from his excursions along the central valley, the
Andes foothills, the south central area, Araucanía, and Chiloé, Gay presents the greenery
typical of some of these areas, particularly in wintertime, viewing in passing the most
characteristic activities of their inhabitants, together with scenes from rural life. “Laguna
de Aculeo”, “Vista de la Laguna del Laja en el nacimiento del río”, and “Los pinares de
Nahuelbuta” are eloquent samples of the countryside that so attracted the scientist´s
attention. While “Una trilla”, “Una matanza”, and “Caza a los cóndores” clearly show
that Gay knew how to pick the governing tasks of a life devoted to agriculture and animal
husbandry that, driven by the rhythms of nature, turned the most typical work into
expressions of local folklore.
“Ternero atacado por los cóndores cerca del volcán San José” and “León cazando
guanacos” are scenes of animal life that struck Gay, among other things, we believe, for
their harmful effects on animal husbandry or for the sake of the expressive struggle for
survival among the wild species of the country. In any event, both plates are
representations of such well-known and daily occurrences that, we feel, warranted
engraving them as features of the territory under study.
Gay, however, took an interest not only in the natural landscape but also in the
cultural environment, so his series on plates showing forms of entertainment and social
life typical of Chileans, both rural and urban, should not come as a surprise. “Una carrera
en las lomas de Santiago”, “Juego de bola”, and “Una chingana” are perhaps the most
representative of the amusements, in some cases the regrettable habits, of the common
people.
21
The plates titled “Valparaíso”, “Paseo de la Cañada”, “Un baile en la Casa de
Gobierno”. “Paseo a los baños de Colina”, and the two devoted to the form of social
gathering known as tertulia, show forms of entertainment and social life, especially
among the wealthier classes. In the case of “Valparaíso” and “Vista del monte
Aconcagua”, the enjoyment was linked to contact with, and contemplation of, nature; the
same probably applies to a trip to the hot springs, while dances and other social
gatherings emphasize the more city-bred habits of the national élites. Always prepared to
picture everything that reflected life in Chile, Gay could not overlook the religious feasts
and forms of popular piety as illustrated in the plates “Andacollo” and “El viático.”
Views of Valparaíso, Santiago, and Valdivia, together with buildings and squares
in the capital, compose a select sample of the main cities, and the kind of life and
material circumstances to be found there. The plates “Camino de Valparaíso a Santiago”
and “Un bodegón” show the busy traffic along the main highway in Chile, reflecting the
economic boom of the time, together with the features of inns where travellers rested.
The series on human and social types includes prints of miners, wagon drivers,
overseers, country people, vendors, and labourers. All are wearing their characteristic
costumes, with the ornaments and utensils, products, and tools that gave them their
identity, the same that, while distinguishing one from the other and also from other social
groups, furnished a better idea of the prevailing social composition. The plates on the
Araucanians, dealing with historical events and the customs of that people, evidence the
22
attraction that such a culture held for man from Europe, a culture still viewed as a
representative element of what was then understood by “Chilean.”15
While the economic, social, and cultural circumstances of Chile as it passes from
the 18 to the 19th century are recorded in the Atlas, representations of the natural world
and the species that inhabited it then are depicted no less splendidly. One hundred and
three pictures of divers vegetable species and one hundred and thirty-five of animals,
namely, eleven of mammals, fourteen of birds, nine of reptiles, twenty-four of fish and
crustaceans, sixty-three of various insects, and fourteen of mollusks and shells provide an
illustrative record of the fauna and flora of Chile at that time. Such a complete inventory
warrants the use that natural scientists have made and will continue to make of Gay´s
work for purposes of identification and classification of vegetable and animal species,
where examination of the relevant plates is of inestimable value.
th
The Atlas offers a splendid instance of the close relationship between art and
science.16 It shows up the value of a drawing as an aid to knowledge by representing the
collected species from life, before they could lose any of their peculiarities. The drawing
thus shows the scholar the most important features of an organism in a way that a mere
description, however comprehensive, cannot. In Gay’s plates, the faithful portrayal of the
animal model has enabled botanists, today as well as yesterday, to extend their research
and carry on the work of classification that would have proved well-nigh impossible
without the drawings.
Furthermore, the artistic value of the plates devoted to plant and animal species is
enhanced by the fact that several of the plant species represented, like bromus mango, or
mango, and gomortega keule, or queule, are either extinct or endangered, so that Gay´s
work is a precious testimony of Chile´s natural history.
In addition, the potential of the Atlas de la Historia Física y Política de Chile
extends beyond the classical division between natural sciences and social sciences and
humanities. The very existence of a work such as the one Gay composed in mid-19th
century is proof of the intention of furnishing a broad view of life in Chile. Gay embodies
the conjunction of the drive to study nature and the drive to study society; between the
description of the natural environment and presentation of social circumstances arising
from the development of mankind on Chilean territory.
15
Luis Mizón, in his book Claudio Gay y la formación de la identidad cultural chilena, points out that the
plates dealing with the Araucanians were intended to illustrate a -still unpublished- text by Gay on that
culture
16
A brief but illustrative discussion of the role of the drawing as an instrument of botanical knowledge, its
evolution and the directions that artists had to follow doing their work, in Carmen Sotos Serrano, “La
botánica y el dibujo en el siglo XVIII.”
23
Through his work, the humanist naturalist encourages a view of real life beyond
the scope of a particular discipline. It is no longer a question that his plates are useful to
discern the environmental or natural history of Chile, or the evolution of representation of
what is Chilean. Complete understanding and full utilization of this work call for
scientific discussion with the common purpose of appreciating a past that increasingly
requires heterogeneous consideration in order to be fully understood.
THE PORTRAIT OF CLAUDE GAY
The oil painting of Claude Gay that hangs in the study of the director of the
Museum of Natural History in Santiago was done by Alexandre Laemlein (1813-1871), a
renowned French painter of historical scenes and portraits who was commissioned by the
Chilean government for this purpose.
Once Gay´s work in Chile was completed and as the day of his return to France
approached, the government then in office issued a decree in February 1842 mandating
that tribute be rendered to the naturalist for his zeal and dedication to the creation and
organization of the natural history museum and laboratory in Chile. Then, as it proved
impossible to find in Chile a sufficiently gifted artist to do justice to the commission, it
was decided to entrust it to a European painter, Francisco Javier Rosales, Chilean chargé
24
d’affaires in Paris, being instructed to have the portrait of Claude Gay painted as soon as
Gay arrived in France.17
The scant references we possess regarding how and where the artist was selected
and the portrait painted suggest that Rosales, whose animosity towards Gay is well
documented, put off commissioning the painting and finally decided to have it done by a
young unknown artist, as unknown to Gay as the artist who eventually painted him.
Diego Barros Arana, correcting the French scientist himself, writes that as Rosales
delayed so long and as recommended by the Chilean government, “Gay had his portrait
painted by Alexandre Lamlein” and that “for a long time Rosales refused to pay the cost
of this work”, which Barros Arana describes as a “valuable work of art.”
The fact is that the portrait is signed and dated in 1845 and that it sailed to Chile
on board the Orbegoso in August 1846. The government did not lose interest and in
September of that year, Manuel Montt, Minister of Justice, Worship, and Public
Education, issued an order to Valparaiso for the box that contained the painting to be
received and promptly shipped to Santiago and hung in the place reserved for it.
The picture is a near-life-size oil painting where Gay is shown seated at a table on
which a there is map of Chile, a flower complete with stalk and bulb, a microscope or set
of lenses, and several papers on which his left hand, holding a magnifying glass, is
resting. His right hand, which rests on one knee, holds a quill pen.
The man´s attire is sober but elegant. Gay as shown to us is not the naturalist hard
at scientific work in the open air. This is instead the man who, having completed his
investigations in the midst of the animal world, now faces the task of writing and
studying the species collected, drawing maps, and examining the objects of interest under
a magnifying glass; the scientist in his study, invested with the prestige born of his wide
knowledge and the dignity and respect due to a life devoted to study.
There is no doubt that the objects with which Gay is painted are meant to show,
even symbolise, his concerns, activities, and honours: the pen he used then to compose
his monumental work on Chile; the flower indicative of his calling as botanist; the
magnifying glass -as it might have been his physics apparatus, his barometer, or his
compass- to show he was a scientist. The papers under his hand show his devotion to
study, as befits a man of science, and, on his left lapel, the red ribbon of chevalier of the
17
According to Carmen Arriagada, Maurice Rugendas might have painted it. So she suggests in a letter to
the painter written from Talca on February 27, 1842, as follows: “Coming back to the works, I see in El
Araucano a decree providing that the portrait of Gay be hung in the Museum; it is very likely that you will
be commissioned to paint that portrait, in which event you would have to stay longer. I beg you to accept
and delay your departure until it is finished . . .” See Oscar Pinochet de la Barra, ed., Carmen Arriagada.
Cartas de una mujer apasionada.
25
Legion of Honour awarded to him for eminent services to France in the field of natural
history.
With his sober bearing and fashionable dark coat, Claude Gay is shown as not
only a man still young and eminently worthy of respect but also a grave man, of strong
features and resolute expression, who gazes fearlessly straight at the viewer. As in many
other portraits painted at the time, the light falling on the face reveals it as bearing a
message of honesty and moral quality of the portrait’s subject. The drawing and
colouring are austere, the clothing unadorned, all intended to emphasize the values
associated with public service. Doubtless a fine example of an oil painting in NeoClassic academic style, that is, formal, clear-cut, well-defined. It is practically an official
picture duly complemented by a gilt frame that enhances the elegant whole.
The restrained attitude of the subject and the style of the work certainly fail to
convey some of the traits that characterized Gat in the eyes of his contemporaries. The
portrait tells us nothing about the ardent nature and active, even restless, temperament of
the scientist, nor about the naïve, amiable, and jovial manners he showed in Chile; little,
though something may be surmised from the absence of furniture or books, about his
modest character, distant from vanity and pride. Perhaps, thanks to the objects pictured
with Gay, we see reflected a spirit cultivated by science and unremitting effort, a
studious, contemplative man, even the humility of the wise. He is clearly a corpulent
man of forty-five in robust health, his face pale and affable. There is also the impression,
we believe, of simple and frugal habits, sobriety and an economic spirit; those who knew
Gay remember him thus.
With few resources, the light in the portrait is slanted from left to right and
descends from the face to the hand and falls on the map; the rest of the composition
becomes shadowy and the dark clothing fuses with the dark background. The face, placed
in the centre, balances the composition where another source of light springs from the
map, the expression of Gay´s work on Chile.
In this portrait, the artist concentrates on the scientist, a studious and circumspect
man who, though devoted to study, is nonetheless capable of contributing to the firsthand knowledge of the country depicted in the map he drew. None other was the object
of the scientific research that Claude Gay pursued in Chile.
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
26
Barros Arana, Diego, Don Claudio Gay; su vida y sus obras, in Obras completas de Diego Barros
Arana, Imprenta Cervantes, Santiago, 1911, vol. XI.
Feliú Cruz, Guillermo, “Claudio Gay, historiador de Chile. Ensayo crítico”, in Stuardo Ortiz, Vida
de Claudio Gay. Escritos y documentos, vol. I.
Feliú Cruz, Guillermo, “Perfil de un sabio: Claudio Gay a través de su correspondencia”, in
Stuardo Ortiz, Vida de Claudio Gay. Escritos y documentos, vol. II.
Feliú Cruz, Guillermo and Carlos Stuardo Ortiz, “Claudio Gay a través de su correspondencia”, in
Feliú Cruz and Stuardo Ortiz, Correspondencia de Claudio Gay.
Feliú Cruz, Guillermo and Carlos Stuardo Ortiz, Correspondencia de Claudio Gay, Ediciones de
la Biblioteca Nacional, Santiago, 1962.
Gay, Claude, Historia física y política de Chile, home of the author, Paris, 1844-1865.
Mizón, Luis, Claudio Gay y la formación de la identidad cultural chilena, Editorial Universitaria,
Santiago, 2002.
Orbigny, Alcide d’, Viaje a la América Meridional, Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos and
Plural Ediciones, La Paz, 2003.
Riviale, Pascal, Los viajeros franceses en busca del Perú antiguo (1821-1914), Instituto Francés
de Estudios Andinos and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, 2000.
Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, “La ‘idea’ geográfica de Chile en el siglo XIX”, in Mapocho No. 44,
1998.
Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, "Las expediciones científicas del siglo XVIII y la Independencia de
América", in Estudios Coloniales I, 2000.
Stuardo Ortiz, Carlos, Los atlas de Historia Física y Política de Chile por Claudio Gay, Imprenta
Universitaria, Santiago, 1954.
Stuardo Ortiz, Carlos, Vida de Claudio Gay. Escritos y documentos, Fondo Histórico y
Bibliográfico José Toribio Medina y Editorial Nascimento, Santiago, 1973.
Torres Marín, Manuel, Así nos vió la Novara. Impresiones austríacas sobre Chile y el Perú en
1859, Editorial Andrés Bello, Santiago, 1990.
Villalobos R., Sergio, Imagen de Chile histórico. El album de Gay, Editorial Universitaria,
Santiago, 1973.
27