Jose Maria Velasco is considered the greatest Mexican landscape painter of the 19th century. In portraying his native country during decades of enormous societal change, he depicted its magnificent scenery, storied past and rapid industrialisation, most famously in his monumental representations of the Valley of Mexico, the area surrounding modern Mexico City. Velasco was a true polymath, and much more than a painter of the national landscape. He was also a practising botanist, naturalist and geologist with highly developed interests in archaeology and cartography. This book provides a fresh appraisal of his work.