Carl Nebel

Carl Nebel is the reason many people know what nineteenth century Mexico looked like. A German engineer, architect and draughtsman, he produced detailed views of Mexican towns, landscapes and people, and later of the battles of the Mexican American War, with a documentary precision that historians still rely on.

Born in Altona near Hamburg, he studied in Hamburg and Paris before travelling to Mexico, where he spent several years drawing. In 1836 he published Voyage pittoresque et archéologique, fifty lithographs with an introduction by Alexander von Humboldt. In 1851 he and the journalist George Wilkins Kendall published The War between the United States and Mexico Illustrated, twelve colour plates including the Battle of Buena Vista and the Battle of Cerro Gordo.

Look for the clear, wide panoramas crowded with small, carefully drawn figures.