(MEXICO.) Charles Blanchot, artist. Pair of views drawn by a French officer under Maximilian. Pencil and gouache on paper, 8 x 12 inches and 6 1/4 x 9 3/4 inches size; Acajete drawn on a large envelope which has been tipped to a later board, with minimal wear; Fort de Guadalupe with toning, tack holes in corners, mount remnants on verso and minor wear. State of Puebla, March 1863
Auguste Charles Philippe Blanchot (1834-1918) was a colonel in the French intervention in Mexico, and aide-de-camp to the intervention's military commander General François Achille Bazaine. He was active in the Siege of Puebla from March to May 1863. In 1911, he published a memoir of this era, "Mémoires: L'Intervention Française au Mexique." His son became a well-known artist who went by the pen name Gus Bofa.
The first view is titled "Reconnaissance des approches de Puebla . . . Vue du fort de Guadaloupe," showing a fort northeast of Puebla which was bombarded by the French forces. The tents of the French encampment camp are seen to the right, and Mexico's second-tallest mountain Popocatépetl can be seen in the background to the left. It is dated 17 March 1863, on the second day of the siege.
The other was drawn in the small town of Acajete, just east of Puebla, on 15 March 1863. La Malinche, a volcanic mountain to the north, is seen in the background and noted in the caption.
