Based upon a miniature circular piece in 1828, this portrait of Antonio Jose de Sucre was sold directly to the minister plenipotentiary of the United States, which was composed of Benjamin Grover Cleveland, Robert Adams Jr and Thomas Larkin Thompson in 1892, and responsible for many diplomatic functions for the United States . The 42 cm by 32 cm painting was created by Ecuadorian artist Jose R. Salas. Sucre was one of Simon Bolivar’s closest friends and general, as well as the president of both Peru and Bolivia. Salas illustrates Sucre in military uniform, an outfit he wore when generating most of his lifelong success.
At age fifteen, Antonio Jose de Sucre joined South America’s fight for independence against Spain in 1814. By 1820 he was promoted under Simon Bolivar as his chief lieutenant. Sucre was responsible for liberating both Ecuador and Peru, which later qualified him to be the first constitutionally elected leader of Bolivia. He did his best to restore the broken economy of Bolivia under Bolivar’s complex new constitutional regime and set forth to make progressive reforms both socially and economically. This included taking many of the Roman-Catholic church’s assets to sell in order to fund schools and education. This made him an unpopular figure among the Bolivian people, which eventually led him to resign and move back to Ecuador. Sucre was eventually assassinated by gunshot when returning home from the “Admirable Congress” in Bogota, where he made his last attempt to maintain the peaceful relationship between Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela.
Sucre’s signifies peace, unity and a prosperous agenda promoting education and the need for men to be free. Sending this portrait of Sucre to the minister plenipotentiary of the United States served as an influential character to many of the men who were shaping the values of the relatively newly founded United States of America.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Antonio José De Sucre.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 31 May 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Antonio-Jose-de-Sucre.