American Beauty

Sat, Oct 17, 2009

Frederick Catherwood was the first 19th century artist to record the splendours of some of the most inaccessible Central American ruins. His images, published in books that changed the way academics viewed the region’s indigenous peoples, were created under appalling conditions. However, they remain some of the most vibrant and beautiful illustrations of the ancient Mesoamerican world ever rendered…

‘It is impossible to describe the interest with which I explored these ruins. The ground was entirely new; there were no guide-books or guides; the whole was virgin soil…. We stopped to cut away branches and vines which concealed the face of a monument. The beauty of the sculpture, the solemn stillness of the woods, the desolation of the city, and the mystery that hung over it, all created an interest higher, if possible, than I had ever felt among the ruins of the Old World.’

An idol and altar at Copan

Those are the impressions of Victorian writer, John Lloyd Stephens, as he encountered the lost civilisation of the ancient Maya. Penetrating the dense jungles of Central America, he uncovered immense ruined cities that had languished unnoticed for centuries. Part-travel epic, part-antiquarian study, his adventures were published in two volumes entitled ‘Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan’. Over one hundred astonishing illustrations accompanied his prose. Engineered by Frederick Catherwood, they were the first truly faithful renditions of the strange world of the Maya – A world of grandiose pyramids, elegant temples and mysterious sculptures. Capturing a style that is entirely alien to the Old World, they are important both as scientific records and as works of art. Even today, Catherwood’s drawings inspire a romantic fascination with a land that is as mystical as it is savage, sublime as it is severe.

Little is known regarding Frederick Catherwood. Few of his personal details were ever noted. Even his most intimate friends refer to him as ‘Mr Catherwood’ or occassionaly as ‘Mr C’. Meanwhile, the majority of his work has been misplaced or destroyed in accidents. Born in London in 1799, it is possible to trace his most formative influences to a period at the Royal Academy. There he encountered the work of Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Piranesi was an Italian engraver and architect who composed views of ancient Roman ruins. Intense perspective and dramatic use of chiaroscuro were among his techniques.

Inevitably, Catherwood’s own encounters with the world of Classical antiquity began in Rome. He commenced studies of the city’s major monuments in 1821. This was to mark the beginning of a prolonged period of travel. Over 14 years, he toured the Medittareanen, Egypt and the Holy Land. His mainly architectural subjects included the pyramids of Giza, the Colossi of Menmon and the Omar Mosque of Jerasulem. Catherwood returned to London in 1835. His vast portfolio, now lost, did not earn him much interest from publishers. Instead, he found employment as a creator of Panoramas – enormous painted landscapes intended to emulate views of foreign locations. It was in this vocation that Catherwood made the life-changing acquaintance of John Lloyd Stephens.

An idol at Copan

John Lloyd Stephens was born in New Jersey in 1805. He trained as a lawyer initially, but soon grew bored with the ‘tedium’ of legal practice. Instead, he applied his talents to political activism. He served the Democratic party until 1835, when he wore out his voice during the Presidential campaign. On the advice of doctors, Stephens travelled abroad. He followed a route through Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land that was almost identical to Catherwood’s. Like Catherwood, Stephens acquired a deep obsession with antiquarian monuments and architecture.

Both Stephens and Catherwood were living in New York in 1837 and enjoying a degree of material success. Catherwood had opened a panorama of his own, possibly at Stephens’ suggestion, and was lauded by the American public. Stephens had become a promising young star of literature. His first book, ‘Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petrea and the Holy Land’, had been published by Harper Brothers to great acclaim. The publisher John Russell Bartlett had suggested that Stephens investigate rumours of ancient cities lurking in Central America. Intrigued by these rumours, Stephens agreed. He commissioned Catherwood to make illustrations, which were so crucial to scientific tomes in the days before photography.

The existing literature on the ruins was both sparse and inaccurate. It was generally believed that migratory Greeks or Egyptians or Phoenicians were responsible for them. The true architects of these monuments, the indigenous Maya, were deemed as mere savages. In fact, the Maya had constructed a civilisation of such scale and grandeur, that it had reached from Southern Mexico as far as Western Honduras. Competing dynasties had governed hundreds of highly populated city-states. Complex societies composed of slaves, commoners and nobles pursued arts like medicine, astronomy, mathematics and writing. All of this was unknown in 1837. When Stephens and Catherwood set sail for Belize, they lacked either a map or solid information regarding their destination. Their aim was to locate three legendary cities: Copán, Palenque and Uxmal.

A portion of the Casa de los Monjas, Uxmal

Stephens and Catherwood landed in 1839 and ventured into distinctly harsh and formidable terrain. Stephens describes a shifting and inhospitable backdrop of volcanoes, mountains, swamps and tropical jungle. Infrastructure was minimal and travel without a machete unthinkable. Often knee-high in mud, starved and ravaged by mosquitoes, progress was gruelling. Yet the land could be as beautiful as it was cruel. The expedition encountered inspiring highland views, exquisite beaches and elegant waterways. Animal life was prolific too. Stephens was especially captivated by the abundance of exotic birds.

Politically, the region was extremely volatile. Each department of the Central American Federation had erupted in civil war. The countryside through which Stephens and Catherwood journeyed could be violent as it was lawless. Marauding mercenaries, bandits and criminals plagued a region where human life had little value. Yet while there were incidents of ill treatment, Stephens’ overall portrait of local life was positive. He portrays a deeply kind and religious people. All too often, he found shelter with impoverished hosts who graciously shared their tortillas and living space.

The expedition reached Copán on 13th November 1839. Located in tropical forest in western Honduras, the city had lain abandoned for a thousand years. While Stephens struggled to free the city from a millennia of vegetative growth, Catherwood devised a map using a theodolite and tape reel. Copán’s buildings, however, were not their principle discovery. Hidden in the undergrowth, sometimes standing, sometimes fallen, lay monumental stone sculptures of bewildering strangeness. Each around fourteen feet in height and carved from a single stone block, they depicted solemn figures in strange ceremonial clothes. These sculptures or ‘stelae’ were the main focus of Catherwood’s efforts at Copán.

Stucco panel showing king Chan Balam

Having evolved independently from Old World aesthetic values, the stelae were a real challenge to Catherwood’s abilities. With and without his cameria lucida, he was initially confounded. The stone surfaces were so intricately and elaborately rendered, so grotesque and convoluted, it seemed that their makers had a fear of unfilled spaces. This intricacy of design was compounded by mystifying and foreign motifs. Serpents, imp-like deities and obscure hieroglyphs spilled out with delirious energy. Their purpose was perplexing.

In fact, the Copán stelae were religious artefacts. In the Mayan vision of the cosmos, an invisible ‘other-world’ of gods and ancestor spirits co-existed with mundane reality. Religious rituals like blood-letting, dancing and sacrifice were regularly performed as a means of contacting this ‘other-world’. The figures depicted on the stelae are Copán’s Kings engaged in such ritual. They stand on the threshold of the ‘other-world’, at the moment of ecstatic divine communion. In their theocratic society, the stelae were propangandist symbols of the power and ‘otherworldly’ authority of the king.

On 11th May 1840, Stephens and Catherwood reached their second intended destination: Palenque in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Stephens correctly deduced that Palenque and Copán had been built by the same peoples. In fact, Palenque had been contemporary to Copán. Both had shared in the golden days of Mayan empire. There were, however, differences between the sites. Palenque’s architectural style was far more grandiose. Imposing pyramids reached through the vegetation. Elaborate temples crowned their summits. At the centre of the city stood a great palace adorned with carved panels. A tower rose from the confines of its crumbled and overgrown interior. There was, at Palenque, a certain regal majesty; a hint at the lavish pageantry that had once occupied the place.

Ornament over the principal doorway of the Casa del Gobernador, Uxmal

The art at Palenque differed too, most characteristically with the relief carvings discovered inside the temples. Set in immense stone tablets, these designs are far more refined and elegant. Space is employed in a balanced manner and there is an absence of the manic overcrowding that characterises the scultptures at Copán. However, the art bears identical themes to Copán’s stelae – namely Royal authority. Concerned with ascension, most images depict a prince receiving symbols of royal lineage. Like Copán, the carvings are propagandist objects intended to legitimise a dynasty whose blood-line reaches to Divine origins. The accompanying hieroglyphics were also of a similar form to those at Copán. This would indicate the two cities had far more in common than they had apart.

By 4th June, Stephens and Catherwood could stand Palenque no more. To call their surrounding environment inhospitable was something of an understatement. The rainy season had begun in earnest and the party was subject to regular and torrential downpours. Meanwhile, aggressive insects had hatched out in their multitudes. Flesh-burrowing bugs had caused Stephens’ foot to swell to twice its size. Catherwood was raw from blood-sucking parasites and his left arm was paralysed from rhuematism. The pair were thoroughly gaunt and emaciated. They quit the ruins and headed north along alligator infested waterways. A course of action they must have considered infinitely safer than staying.

Uxmal was the party’s final destination. Located on the flat limestone shelf that is Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, Uxmal was of an entirely different character. Rising at a time when Palenque and Copán were mysteriously abandoned, Uxmal’s architectural style is extremely ornate. Geographically, the terrain was different too. Uxmal was set in an open plain, mercifully freed from the constraints of any rainforest. Catherwood made only a few sketches at Uxmal before Stephens found him collapsed at his easel. Malaria had finally claimed his strength. The pair made urgent recourse to New York. Their momentous journey was over.

The archway of the Casa del Gobernador, Uxmal

‘Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan’, was published by Harper Brothers in June 1841. By December, the book had been reprinted 11 times and had sold over 20,000 copies. It was an enormous success for American publishing. Stephens had composed a work of extraordinary merit. His prose endures as some of the best travel writing ever penned. His wonder and fascination at the ruins are infectious. His anecdotes of calamitous misfortune are told with good humour. His efforts earned him great critical acclaim. He was dubbed the most gifted popular writer of America.

Meanwhile, Catherwood’s skill as a draughtsman was indisputable. His illustrations had been incised on steel by New York’s finest engravers. They revealed a hauntingly strange land. Exotic landscapes, mysterious buildings and eerie monuments were set beneath dramatically tempered skies. His inclusion of local people, plants and animals added depth and character to his views. His work was extremely evocative. Without compromising objectivity, he could conjure the fallen majesty of the Maya’s ruined cities.

Between them, Stephens and Catherwood would permanently change the academic establishment. Stephens’ assertion that the ruins were of indigenous origin was novel and far ahead of its time. Catherwood’s drawings possessed a hitherto unachieved technical accuracy. They are still used by scholars as illustrative material. Their work essentially laid the foundations for modern American archaeology. Their next collaborative work, ‘Incidents of Travel in Yucatan’, focussed on a subsequent trip to Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Published in 1843, these volumes contained further descriptions of ruins and 120 lithographs. The importance of their discoveries could not be ignored.

Sadly, that was their last shared adventure into American antiquities. Catherwood, however, went on to finance a book alone – ‘Views of Ancient monuments in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan’. Its sales failed to support him, particularly as a fire had destroyed his Panorama, most of his life-work and sources of income. He was forced to ply the more reliable trade of civic engineering. Stephens, meanwhile, turned his attentions to financial investment. He died of malaria in 1852, while involved with a Panamanian railway project. Two years later, Catherwood died in a shipwreck on the Atlantic ocean. In some twisted stroke of irony, his name was absent from the list of deceased passengers. His death was acknowledged many days later. In some inconspicuous corner of the New York Herald Tribue, it simply said: ‘Mr Catherwood also is missing’….

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