Original portrait of Melchor Ocampo, c. 1860

This original antique lithograph belongs to a series of portraits devoted to the prominent men of Mexico. The work is attributed to the artist Casimiro Castro, the greatest exponent of 19th-century Mexican lithography, known for his technical mastery and his participation in monumental works such as “México y sus alrededores”. The piece was published in collaboration by the house Maass & Cursch and the establishment of Decaen in Mexico.

The print was probably issued around 1862 as a posthumous tribute to Melchor Ocampo, a fundamental ideologue of the Reform Laws. Castro’s style is recognisable in the handling of light and shadow on the lithographic stone, achieving a physiognomy of realism and a dignity that turns the portrait into an iconic effigy of the republican martyr. This series is scarce on the market, with a single sale record (Morton Subastas, 2022, from the private collection of Robert L. Meyer) and a limited presence of loose examples.

The compilation of these portraits constitutes a memorial to the political-military movements that forged Mexico and Latin America as independent nations against the powers that sought imperialist expansion. To possess a work from this series, linked to the talent of Casimiro Castro, means owning a key document of national iconography and 19th-century graphic art.