Arcadópolis
A woman getting into her saya viewed from behind
Pancho Fierro, c. 1848
What you see
A woman of Lima bends forward and plunges her head and arms into a large blue garment, which hangs to the right like a sack and reveals its yellow lining. All we see of her is a bit of brown hair, a red kerchief on her shoulders, a white blouse and a pale skirt that reaches the floor.
There is something comic about the scene, with most of her body swallowed by the fabric. The blue is worked in fine lines that suggest pleats, set against the soft gray stripes of the skirt. Watch for the small black pouch dangling on a cord down to the floor, and the penciled caption “Saya vistiéndose.”
About Pancho Fierro
Francisco “Pancho” Fierro was born in Lima in 1807, the son of a priest and an enslaved woman of the household, and earned his living painting shop signs, bullfight posters and murals. His quick, humorous watercolours portray the tapadas, street vendors, friars, musicians and riders of nineteenth-century Lima, usually against an empty background that leaves the spotlight on clothing and gesture. He painted more than a thousand scenes, which were exported to Europe, Asia and North America, and the painter José Sabogal called him “the first Peruvian artist”.
More by Pancho Fierro
Tapada limeña
A man and woman dancing the Zamacueca
Lady bathing at Chorrillos
A watercarrier riding a donkey
A woman walking with a Llama
A woman carrying a vessel on her head and a child on her back
A man riding a mule, his whip raised, another mule loaded with grass alongside
Two musicians and a man carrying on his head a rooster in cage
A priest from the Mercederian order (Order of Our Lady of Mercy)
The Arcadópolis Museum has 443 public-domain works in 40 rooms, free to explore in 3D in your browser.