Monument to General San Martín and the Armies of Independence
The Monument to General San Martín and the Armies of Independence in the city of Buenos Aires is a bronze equestrian monument on a polished red granite base that honors General José de San Martín, Argentine national hero, and to four important milestones related to American independence: Departure to War, the Battle, the Victory and The return of the victor.
The group formed by the Liberator on the horse was the first equestrian monument in Argentina (inaugurated on July 13, 1862), the work of the French sculptor Louis-Joseph Daumas. On the other hand, the bronze groups around the base are the work of the German Gustavo Eberlein, and were inaugurated in 1910.
History
The equestrian statue
In 1859, the Municipality of Buenos Aires learned of a Chilean initiative consisting of building a commemorative monument to General San Martín. Indeed, in Chile the French sculptor, specialist in horses, Louis Joseph Daumas, had been entrusted with the realization of a commemorative equestrian monument to the Liberator that would be located in the city of Santiago de Chile. Although the work was completed by Daumas in 1860, its inauguration did not take place until April 5, 1863.
The fact is that the Argentine government considered that it should also pay homage to the hero of American independence, so in 1860 a commission was formed for that purpose, made up of Joaquín Cazón (President); Constant Santa Maria (Vice President); Santiago Albarracín (Treasurer); Leonardo Pereira (Secretary); Hilarión Medrano and Manuel Aguirre, who decided to place it in the Retiro neighborhood, and entrusted Daumas himself with a replica of the statue destined for Chile: “In the upper and central part of the promenade, in addition to the rows of trees, benches and small ornamental side gardens, there will be an esplanade that will provide a beautiful perspective (...) there will be a fountain and two bronze equestrian statues. One of them will be that of General D. José de San Martín…”.
The statue had a modification with respect to the Chilean monument: the horse's tail did not rest on the plinth, something that was not possible in the monument in Chile due to the common seismic movements. In addition, in the Argentine statue, San Martín was represented indicating the way to his soldiers, just as Théodore Gericault had represented him in a lithographic portrait of 1819.
The equestrian statue arrived unarmed on April 13, 1862. On July 11, the national government issued a decree that, among other things, ordered:
3° Once the statue is discovered, it will be immediately greeted with music, targets, cheers and a 21-gun salute.
4° Once the ceremony is over, the troops will retire to their barracks, leaving from this moment a sentinel at the foot of the statue that will be given by the guard of the neighboring barracks”.
Finally, it was inaugurated on a white marble base and facing east, on July 13 of that year, that is, several months before the Chilean one.
The basement, reliefs and allegories
In 1909, one year after the celebration of the centenary of the May Revolution, the German Gustavo Eberlein, who was in Buenos Aires participating in the contest for the erection of a Monument to Independence, was commissioned to embellish the austere base of the statue and that in the same square San Martín erected a monument to the Armies of Independence. The artist accepted the deal, and began to carry out the work in his native country, which made it difficult to supervise. Ernesto de la Cárcova visited the sculptor's workshop in January 1910 and although he verified that the work was well advanced, he also verified that the character of the characters, the fauna and flora did not reflect the historical truth and the soldiers wore Napoleonic uniforms that they had nothing to do with the originals. Since most of the reliefs had already been cast, only a few errors could be corrected.
The official inauguration of the complex carried out by Eberlein was on May 27, 1910. It was then used to give it its current orientation, with the statue facing north. Among others, the President of the Argentine Nation, Figueroa Alcorta, the President of Chile, delegations from neighboring countries and army battalions attended.
Description and characteristics
It is located in the square in the place that was once occupied by the so-called "Campo de Marte", where General San Martín organized the squadron of Horse Grenadiers.
Daumas was based on a portrait of the flag that the General's daughter, Mercedes, had in France, where the soldier was still young. For this reason, in the monument he appears to be thirty to forty years old. He is seen clean shaven and with short sideburns. Both his clothing, his curved saber and his mount are a faithful representation of the real ones, since his relatives had kept them after his death. He is seen in a serene attitude, with his outstretched right arm pointing the way.
The base made by Eberlein, a romantic sculptor, is made of polished red dragon granite. The following bronze groups can be seen on the different fronts:
- The departure: it is a soldier and a civilian who, along with them and on the ground, have a flag and a broken drum patch.
- The Battle: one soldier fallen, another holding the flag strongly, and a healer of the broken cannon.
- Victoria: a female allegory, with wings, which is crowning a soldier. At the foot of the soldier there is a basket with fruits representing abundance.
- ReturnA soldier embraces a woman. Next to his feet is a laurel crown.
On the front of the shaft and below the equestrian figure stands out the God Mars holding the Condor with his left leg, representing "Victory".
In the upper part of the basement are reliefs that refer to the three most important military actions of the Liberator: the Battle of San Lorenzo, the battle of Chacabuco and Maipú.
At the base of the plinth there are four oblong reliefs: The Passage of the Andes, The Proclamation of the Independence of Peru, The Battle of Salta and the Taking of Montevideo. Finally, there are some other elements that adorn the work, such as laurels, helmets, palmettes, etc., articulating the bronze reliefs with the granite parts.
Regarding the relief of the battle of Salta, it is important to point out that it was initially called the Battle of Tacuarí, but the Centennial Commission agreed with Eduardo Schiaffino: it did not make sense that the monument would remember a defeat that cost General Belgrano a court martial. Eberlein defended himself by pointing out that it was actually the Battle of Salta and that it had been his assistant who erroneously named the battle of Tacuarí. However, the illustration does not coincide with the historical fact either: indeed, at the end of the battle in Salta, Belgrano tried not to humiliate the leader of the royalists, the Peruvian Pío Tristán, who had been a friend of the Argentine hero when they were studying in Spain. What Belgrano did was embrace him in front of the troops in formation and not on horseback as seen in the bas-relief. Even so, due to the lack of time to correct the error before the opening, no changes were made at that time or until today.
It was also questioned at the time whether the capture of Montevideo was included, carried out by Carlos María de Alvear, who at that time was an enemy of San Martín. Although it was a great strategic victory, it was not the most glorious moment for our army, mainly due to some unclear conduct by Alvear, who did not fulfill what he had promised.
The God Mars.
The Battle.
Victoria.
The Battle of Salta.
Copies
According to the Instituto Nacional Sanmartiniano, there are 57 copies of the sculpture in different cities of the Argentine territory, and more than a dozen in some of the main cities of the world.
Consulted bibliography
- Carlos María Toto, Leticia Maronese and Carlos Estévez (2007), Monuments and Artworks in the Public Space of the City of Buenos Aires, Collection educational notebooks, Ministry of Culture of the City of Buenos Aires.
- Sonia Berjman, Roxana Di Bello and María Magaz (2003). Plaza San Martín, pictures of a story. Ed. NobuKo. ISBN 987-20641-0-5.