Brooklyn Expedition | Latin America

Drawing and p/hotographs from Brooklyn Museum of Art Library. Special Collections.

Beginning in 1839, the artist Frederick Catherwood visited Mayan ruins and made the first detailed drawings of these stone monuments. Catherwood's work inspired Maudslay to visit these places with a camera.

This is Maudslay at the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. He set up his work area in an archaeological site called the Casa de Monjas. He later wrote:

"My object in returning to the ruins in 1885 was to gather together and publish... a collection of accurate copies of the monuments and inscriptions as would enable scholars to carry on their work of examination and comparison... whilst comfortably seated in their studies at home."

Stone carvings, like this one in Guatemala, are called stelae. The pictures and writing on them record events in Mesoamerican history.

At the Mayan temple at Copan, Honduras, Maudslay photographed many stelae, like this one.

In Mexico, Maudslay and his crew explored the Mayan palace at Palenque, one of the largest Mayan sites.

This temple in Mexico is called the Castillo.

This is how part of the Casa de Monjas looked from the outside.
Look inside