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This lithograph by Carl Nebel, printed in Paris in 1836 by the Imprimerie de Lemercier, depicts a lively canal scene on the outskirts of Mexico City in the early years of the republic. The view centers on the tree-lined banks of the La Viga canal, where residents from all walks of life have gathered to enjoy a day of leisure. Families ride in flat-bottomed boats poled by indigenous boatmen, while others stroll or ride on horseback along the canal’s edge. In the distance, a procession of carriages and mounted figures converges at the Garita de la Viga, a neoclassical toll gate that once marked the city’s southeastern limit.
Drawn from life during Nebel’s travels in Mexico between 1829 and 1834, the composition blends ethnographic observation with the romantic conventions of the European picturesque. The tall poplars, placid water, and carefully staged groups suggest order and harmony, even as the image captures the energy and diversity of Mexico’s urban population. This is one of the celebrated plates from Voyage pittoresque et archéologique dans la partie la plus intéressante du Méxique, the first major European publication devoted entirely to post-independence Mexico.
La Viga was a central artery of public life in 19th-century Mexico City, connecting the capital to the lake towns of Xochimilco and Chalco. Nebel’s rendering preserves the canal’s appearance and atmosphere with rare immediacy. Now long since filled in and lost to urban development, this image is a vital historical document of a vanished landscape.
Carl Nebel (1805-1855) was a German artist and lithographer known for his detailed and vivid depictions of Mexico in the mid-19th century. After traveling to Mexico in the 1820s, Nebel captured the country's landscapes, architecture, and everyday life through a series of lithographic views that gained widespread acclaim. His most notable work, Voyage pittoresque et archéologique dans la partie la plus intéressante du Méxique (1836), featured 50 hand-colored lithographs that offered European audiences a rare visual insight into Mexican culture and scenery. Nebel's work was characterized by uncommon attention to detail and color, making his lithographs important visual documents that chronicled Mexico during a period of significant social and political change. His work was also featured in The War Between the United States and Mexico (1851), perhaps the most ambitious color plate book of the Mexican War, on which he collaborated with George Wilkins Kendall.
