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Secondary sourcePainting1909

San Martín and O'Higgins crossing the Andes

Julio Vila y Prades · 1909

A 1909 painting imagining San Martín and Bernardo O'Higgins leading troops across the Andes in 1817.

Depicts San Martín leading the famous 1817 crossing of the Andes with O'Higgins, a defining moment of his career.

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Painting of two mounted officers in military dress on a rocky mountain ledge, with snow-capped Andean peaks behind them. A man in a wide-brimmed hat and cloak walks in the foreground with a staff, and a line of mounted soldiers and a dog stand to the right.
Julio Vila y Prades, San Martín and O'Higgins crossing the Andes, 1909. Museo Histórico y Militar de Chile.

About this source

What it is

This painting by Julio Vila y Prades, dated 1909, shows two mounted officers on a rocky mountain ledge with the snow-capped Andes behind them, soldiers and a dog nearby. It is held by the Museo Histórico y Militar de Chile.

Why it matters

The painting represents the famous crossing of the Andes by the Liberating Army in February 1817, led by General José de San Martín and General Bernardo O'Higgins. Made almost a century later, during centenary celebrations, it shows how later generations turned this military campaign into a national legend.

Look closer

  • What details make the scene look heroic or dramatic?
  • Why might an artist in 1909 want to paint this event in this way?
  • What might the painting leave out about the real difficulties of the crossing?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of José de San Martín and Bernardo O'Higgins on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Letter to Bernardo O'Higgins Announcing the Victory at Maipú

José de San Martín · 5 April 1818

Open booklet with a printed facsimile page on the left titled 'Maximas para mi hija, 1825' listing numbered maxims in Spanish, and a handwritten manuscript page on the right with the same maxims in cursive. Caption notes it is a facsimile of a document in the Museo Mitre.Document

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Máximas para mi Hija

José de San Martín · 1825

Handwritten Spanish manuscript page on lined paper, with a faded seal at upper left. The text begins 'En el Nombre de Dios todo poderoso' and continues with San Martín's will, mentioning his daughter Mercedes, a pension for his sister Elena, and his sable given to Juan Manuel de Rosas.Document

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Testamento de San Martín

José de San Martín · 1844

Oil painting of a man with dark, swept-back hair and sideburns wearing a dark military uniform with gold embroidered collar and cuffs and gold epaulettes. He holds a light-colored staff and a light blue and white flag with a laurel branch at upper right.Painting

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Portrait of José de San Martín

c. 1828

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