Bolívar, the Liberator and father of the homeland

Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) led the independence campaigns of 5 South American countries. 

The so-called ‘Liberator’ inspired many paintings, sculptures and other kinds of artworks. 

Bolívar, the Liberator and father of the homeland was one of the first Bolívar portraits made after his victory in the Batlle of Boyacá, on August 7th, 1819. 

A couple of months after that feat, Pedro José Figueroa completed the portrait commissioned by Santafe’s Assembly of Notables. 

The woman next to him is an allegory of America. 

It is indicated by some elements such as the feather headdress, the bow, the quiver with arrows, 

These elements are based on the description in Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia, written in the 16th Century. 

After independence, the allegory of America also became the allegory of Liberty. 

The painting also uses symbols based on indigenous people, something that contrasted with the systematic exclusion of those communities from the Republic creation process. 

On the other hand, recent studies show traces of another man’s face. It is believed that he is Ferdinand VII of Spain, the kingdom’s monarch in 1819.  

Another version states that it is Pablo Morillo, who commanded the Spanish reconquest of Nueva Granada between 1815 and 1816. 

It is not certain if Figueroa painted it as a political message or because of the lack of new canvases.  

Regardless, it was a signal of the political transition that America underwent in the independence period.